Assessing the Potential of Congressional Responsibility for National Forest Management

From 1960 to 1999, a variety of laws and other public policies influenced the management of the national forests in the Sierra Nevada. Existing laws and new statutes contained directives for the planning, management, conservation and preservation of national forest lands and resources. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) forced the U.S. Forest Service to disclose information about land management plans and their impacts. The stattre also led to greater public awareness of management issues and increased public involvement in agency decision-making. As a result, efforts to increase timber production in Sierra Nevada national forests met increased public scrutiny, and with political and legal opposition. The National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA) mandated extensive planning to promote effective and efficient conservation and use of forest resources and to resolve forest management controversies. However, the conflict between the demand for increased timber and demands for increased recreation and wilderness preservation limited NFMA's effectiveness. Discord over national forest policies did not begin with NFMA, but the broad scope of land management planning generated remarkable public attention and controversy. Public opposition to increased clearcutting and other activities that potentially led to impacts on wildlife habitat and other aspects of ecosystems led to administrative and legal challenges to national forest plans. In the early 1990s, the Forest Service's reinterpretation of existing law impelled it to extensively revise both its management objectives in the Sierra Nevada and its planning for the national forests in the region. Agency planning sought to better incorporate scientific knowledge about species and habitat requirements into an ecosystem management strategy. Instead of ending the uncertainty over the conservation and management of forested lands and resources, eight years of agency planning pursuant to this new perspective engendered additional controversies. The continuing inability to resolve environmental issues strongly indicates both a need and opportunity for significant changes in the institutional structures governing the national forests of these lands. INTRODUCTION Natural resource policy and planning initiatives in the Sierra Nevada, California's spectacular mountain region, have had profound implications for the management of the area's natural resources. This study explores a range of public policies and issues associated with national forest management, and examines their impact on the administration of the national forests of the Sierra Nevada during the period from 1960 to 1999. Environmental activism, public interest litigation, internal agency decisions, and legislative initiatives of the past four decades have changed the traditional management practices of the federal resource management agencies. Environmental politics, directly or indirectly, led to many policy modifications. Evolving scientific understanding of natural resources intersected with broader social and legal developments. Reforming natural resource management led to major statutory, administrative and legal changes. As a result, national forest management policy for the national forests of the United States has been dramatically restructured during this period. Initiatives for reform have addressed two interrelated phenomena that present significant challenges in governance for the region: 1) political activism resulting from environmental and social concerns; and 2) incapacity of public institutions and private market forces to improve environmental conservation and management. This research evaluates the progress of these initiatives and offers a rethinking of the prospects for natural resource management and ecosystem conservation in the Sierra Nevada. Prior to World War II, the Forest Service had established a reputation for expert management in public administration, and for being an able player in national politics. …

Transforming Forests with Good Intentions

An indicator of the level of conflict over natural resource management was devel oped and applied to the case of U.S. national forest policy and management. Computer-coded content analysis was used to identify expressions of conflict in a national database of almost 10, 000 news media stories about the U.S. Forest Service. Changes in the amount of news media discussion involving conflict were tracked over the 5-year period from 1992 through 1996. The relative level of con flict over national forest policy and management measured by this indicator was found to correspond with major conflict-related events during this time period. This social indicator could be used to evaluate policies intended to reduce conflict, monitor contentious issues, and identify emerging areas of conflict.

FORPLAN (FORest PLANning) is a large-scale linear programming system used to support national forest land management planning. It is available in two versions, and is used extensively to help interdisciplinary planning teams develop forest-wide plans as dictated by the National Forest Management Act of 1976. Nine years of experience clearly show that while the system is working in a technical sense, troublesome issues remain. This paper begins with an overview of how USDA Forest Service planning has evolved. We then give mathematical formulations for portions of FORPLAN models and examples of how the system is used to aid planners on national forests. We present an evaluation of the use of FORPLAN that addresses five criteria including, problems associated with large-scale models and systematic, comprehensive planning, Forest Service organizational issues, the role of foresters in national forest management, and conflicts over competing land uses. We then consider lessons for operations research practitioners. Finally, we discuss a number of conclusions and recommendations, the most important being the need for the Forest Service to more clearly specify the role of forest planning in the overall agency planning hierarchy and the role of FORPLAN in forest planning.

A Conspiracy of Optimism explains the controversy now raging over the U.S. Forest Service's management of America's national forests. Confronted with the dual mandate of production and preservation, the U.S. Forest Service decided it could achieve both goals through more intensive management. For a few decades after World War Two, this conspiracy of optimism masked the fact that high levels of resource extraction were destroying forest ecosystems. The effects of intensive management--massive clear-cuts, polluted streams, declining wildlife populations, and marred scenery--initiated several decades of environmental conflict that continues to the present. Hirt documents the roots of this conflict and illuminates recent changes in administration and policy that suggest a hopeful future for federal lands.

Although the management of wildlife and fish did not become a statutory responsibility of the Forest Service until the passage of the Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act in 1960, at least since its organization in 1905 national forest employees have managed fish and game. This excellent survey places specific stories of wildlife management in the context of changing national forest policy and practice. Specific cases include the Kaibab deer, grizzly bear, anadromous fish, California condor, bald eagle, Kirtland's warbler, Mount Graham red squirrel, red-cockaded woodpecker, marbled murrelet, northern spotted owl, and peregrine falcon. Unlike much of the environmental history written in recent years, Catton's and Mighetto's history is progressive rather than declensionist. They argue, rightly I believe, that since the 1970s and especially since 1990, the methods of wildlife management have improved, and the Forest Service has experienced notable successes in rescuing animals and restoring habitats. The successes they document contrast sharply with conditions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the nineteenth century, hunters eradicated the passenger pigeon, drove the American bison to the brink of extinction, and eliminated elk from much of the central Rockies. In the early twentieth century, the Forest Service, the states, and other agencies muddled along in ignorance and indifference. The service harvested little timber, so it managed grazing and watersheds. Tragicomic experiences like the 1920S Kaibab deer episode were the consequence. By contrast, in recent years these agencies have succeeded in retrieving certain species from the brink of extinction. In part, these successes resulted from changes in national forest policies and practices. These included the hiring of biologists since the early 1970s and especially since 1990, the implementation of the Endangered Species and National Forest Management Acts, and the adoption of ecosystem management. A major setback occurred during the 1980s when the Reagan administration and Congressional conservatives mounted attacks on the efforts to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems. These actions resulted in reduced funding for biologists, increases in the Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) of timber, and habitat destruction. Forest Service resistance to the conservative agenda surfaced especially in the 1989 Sunbird Conference and in the forced resignation of John Mumma as Northern Regional Forester. The authors analyze a number of conditions that led to salutary changes. These include the hiring of biologists, the publication of significant studies, the work of Jack Ward Thomas and Michael Dombeck, and the efforts of Ecosystem Management Teams. Nevertheless, the authors do not, I believe, give sufficient attention to the process and results of the drafting the first round of forest plans, which were generally approved after 1987. These plans contributed to a decline in ASQ from 12 to 14 billion board feet in 1987 to less than 5 billion board feet in 1992 and most importantly to

Formulating effective national forest policy in lesser developed countries is complex and needs to take into account the social as well as the biophysical dimensions which impact on forest resources. Deforestation continues to be a serious concern in many of these countries and most national forest policy seeks to curb the devastationof forest resources. Due to different social groups competing for use of the forest resources, however, designing effective policy is challenging. The needs of these different social groups must be considered.Unless this is done, the forest policy itself can be an impetus for deforestation.In the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, deforestation in the Atlantic forest (Mata Atlantica) is occurring at a rapid rate, threatening the richness of biodiversity. There are a number of causes for deforestation in Santa Catarina, one being Brazil's national Atlantic forest policy. Unintentionally, the structure of this conservation-focusedpolicy has declared all of Santa Catarina's native forests off-limits to any type of exploitation, the only state in Brazil where this has occurred, and has actually precipitated deforestation. Challenges for state-level planning include addressing the national forest policy as well as the state-levelimpacts resulting from the policy. The history of the policy, the social groups affected and challenges for planning are discussed, as are proposed solutions.

This study analysed the linkage between national forest policy in Korea, namely the 5SUPth/SUP National Forest Master Plan, 2016 Korea Forest Service Performance Management Plan, the 3SUPrd/SUP National Sustainable Development Plan, and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 7 strategies of the 5SUPth/SUP National Forest Master Plan were related to 11 Goals of SDGs, and 5 strategies of 2016 Korea Forest Service Performance Management Plan were associated with 7 areas of SDGs, and 4 strategies within 3SUPrd/SUP National Sustainable Development Plan were linked to 7 Goals of SDGs. Among 87 national forest indicators compiled from three respective forest-related policies of Korea, 45 national indicators were related to 18 SDGs indicators. This indicates that 52% of national indicators of Korean forest policy are reflecting the language of SDGs. However, seeing from SDGs perspective, only 18 out of 241, which accounts for 7.8% of SDGs indicators are related to national indicators. The findings imply that a number of national forest-related indicators do not meet the diverse dimension of SDGs which provides potential areas for forest to contribute. Based on the findings, following recommendations were suggested: 1) the term used in forest policy should be aligned to SDGs targets so that it can be embedded in national policies, and 2) indicators should be further contextualized as well as in its assessment system. Lastly, it suggests for leveraging 3) ‘5 Processes of sub-national climate change adaptation plan’ and the core concept of REDD+ MRV which could provide fundamental background for implementing SDGs framework to national forest policy.

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) identified the loss of open space as a core threat to the health of national forests. Widely acknowledged are the ecological interconnections between public and private lands. But there is also an important historical and political relationship between national forest management and private land development. There is ample historical precedent for the USFS to consider what is happening outside its jurisdiction and respond accordingly on national forests. We expect national forests to become more politically contested in the future, as a result of the fragmentation taking place on private lands. If the agency fails to consider the larger landscape when making decisions, we also expect a growing number of interests to challenge it politically and legally. There are several policy tools and strategies that can be used to deal with the private land development problem, and we focus on some that have received less attention.

Has Smokey the Bear become Smokey the Politician? The image of Smokey Bear, peering from magazine pages and billboards, does not cut the profile of someone scrambling for political office. Smokey, the mascot of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDA), symbolizes the warm and fuzzy (or is that furry?) side to our national forests. Smokey is shown living peacefully in a forest among flowers, birds, and fawns. In this Eden-like setting, he asks that we be careful with fires in his community--the national forests. Like tourists who avoid the rough side of town, we do not see the complete story of Smokey's community. We never see Smokey clear-cutting forests, drilling for oil, downhill skiing, riding ATVs, snowmobiling, mining, hunting, or herding cattle. To some, such images would seem at odds with Smokey's community. Others, however, would conclude that Smokey was merely making wise use of his forest home. If Smokey's image mirrored the true complexities of national forest management, he would likely be a controversial figure, reflecting more accurately the divisive issues surrounding the agency he represents. Because of actions of the Clinton administration, those controversies surrounding the Forest Service's management of the national forests may now be settled in the political arena, for the Forest Service has become politically accountable. Smokey Bear must now be responsive to the ballot box. On October 28, 1993, the Clinton administration removed F. Dale Robertson from his position as chief of the Forest Service. In the tradition of Forest Service chiefs before him, Robertson was a career Forest Service employee. He had risen through the ranks of the agency to become its head in 1987, during the Reagan administration. The removal of Robertson sparked a debate between those who accused the Clinton administration of politicizing the Forest Service and those who clamored that a clear change in the direction of the Forest Service was due (Cushman, 1993).(1) A few weeks later, on November 17, 1993, the Clinton administration announced that Robertson's replacement would be Jack Ward Thomas, who was a Forest Service researcher involved in developing a protection strategy for the northern spotted owl. Although Thomas had worked for the Forest Service for many years, his lack of management experience in the hierarchy of the Forest Service precluded his selection as a career appointee. In other words, his selection is considered politically motivated. This breaks with the long-standing tradition that the chief of the Forest Service is filled by a career appointment. However, a review of the fundamental laws and issues concerning the management of our national forests reveals a picture of land-use management that is based, ultimately, upon value judgments. While objective scientific determinations play an important role for the Forest Service in evaluating management options, as well as implementing management decisions, the criteria that guide the Forest Service in the selection of its management direction are imbued with subjectivity. Given such a mission and the constitutional framework of our representative democracy, it is wholly appropriate to hold the Forest Service accountable to the values of the people as reflected through their elected representatives. The Forest Service is charged by law with managing the 191 million acres of public land which comprise 156 national forests and 19 national grasslands (U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 1993; ii). These lands are located in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (MUSYA) is the fundamental law that guides the Forest Service in its management of these lands. In particular, MUSYA provides that the national forests shall be administered for outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed and wildlife and fish purposes (Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 [sections]1). …

Assessment of ecosystem services as an opportunity for the conservation and management of native forests in Chile

National forest management of wild horses and burros: Current position and policy

To begin to learn more about how the legal system affects management activities on the national forests, we examined all published US courts of appeals cases decided from 1970 through 2001 in which the Forest Service was the defendant in a lawsuit challenging forest management. Our results demonstrate that, even though the Forest Service wins most courts of appeals cases, judicial review of national forest management is intensifying. Environmental interests were involved in most cases, and the National Environmental Policy Act was the basis for most litigation, although National Forest Management Act and Endangered Species Act cases are increasing. The cases were concentrated in the Ninth Circuit (the West)—the only circuit where the Forest Service lost more than half its cases.

Over the past few decades the management of public old growth forest in the United States has been the focus of public debate. The tradeoffs between timber harvesting and amenity benefits of standing forests have been a key issue in this debate with national forest managers critiqued for both harvesting old growth forests too slowly or too quickly. To date there has been little analysis of the actual values placed on amenity benefits of old growth on national forests. The objective of this study is to analyze old growth forest management on U.S. national forests including the implicit amenity values of national forest managers. Using a data set from western Washington we estimate the implicit values of non-timber services by U.S. national forest managers. The average non-timber service changes during the study period, and increases as the stock of old growth forest decreases. The estimated value of per acre non-timber services is considerably higher than the values from previous studies. The results also suggest that national forest managers have at least partially recognized the non-timber benefits of old growth forests.

The Northwest has been at the forefront of forest management and research in the United States for more than one hundred years. In The U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest, Gerald Williams provides an historical overview of the part the Forest Service has played in managing the Northwest's forests. Emphasizing changes in management policy over the years, Williams discusses the establishment of the national forests in Oregon and Washington, grazing on public land, the Great Depression, World War II, and the rise of multiple-use management policies. He draws on extensive documentation of the post-war development boom to explore its effects on forests and Forest Service workers. Discussing such controversial issues as roadless areas and wilderness designation; timber harvesting; forest planning; ecosystems; and spotted owls, Williams demonstrates the impact of 1970s environmental laws on national forest management. The book is rich in photographs, many drawn from the Gerald W. Williams Collection, housed in University Archives at Oregon State University Libraries. Extensive appendices provide detailed data about Pacific Northwest forests. Chronicling a century of the agency's management of almost 25 million acres of national forests and grasslands for the people of the United States, The U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest is a welcome and overdue resource.