Selling the Federal Forests

Abstract

The issue of whether the public interest is best served by public or private ownership and management of natural resources has been the subject of a rapidly expanding literature. One aspect of this issue, the transfer of ownership and management of government lands to the private sector, is known as privatization. The arguments for and against the privatization of public lands generally focus on the issues of efficiency and equity. The proponents of privatization hold that the private sector, guided by the pursuit of profit, can generally be relied upon to be more efficient than the public sector.' Their opponents, on the other hand, claim that market imperfections (in particular inadequate competition or the existence of externalities) are of enough importance that the public sector may allocate resources better than the private sector. Furthermore, the opponents of privatization claim that the private sector cannot be counted upon to allocate resources equitably between the various segments of today's society or between the current and future generations. Selling the Federal Forests is a collection of essays on the sale of commodity producing forest lands prepared for a two-day symposium held by the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington in April of 1983. The essays make the arguments and counterarguments of both groups in a highly accessible fashion. There are sixteen essays in all, and the transcript of a brief panel discussion of four of the conference participants. Obvious care was taken in the selection of symposium participants so that nearly every perspective of the privatization issue is represented. The opening essay, by Thomas R. Waggener, provides an excellent introduction to the remaining papers by presenting a historical review of the origins of the federal forests, their current status, and current issues in forest ownership. The next seven essays explore the positions of economists and political scientists regarding federal forest land sales. By alternating the essays which support privatization with those of its opponents, Adrien E. Gamache, the editor of the volume, has effectively presented both sides of the issue while at the same time maintaining the atmosphere of a debate. The next three essays present the views of public agencies on priva-