Page 335 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

Adaptive management was featured in the Northwest We extract timber from private
Forest Plan, a 1994 plan crafted by the administration of and public lands
President Bill Clinton to resolve disputes between loggers
and preservationists over the last remaining old-growth tem- The vast majority of timber harvesting in the United States
perate rainforests in the continental United States. This plan today takes place on private land owned by the timber industry
sought to allow limited logging to continue in the Pacific or by small landowners. Private timber companies also extract
Northwest, with adequate protections for species such as the timber from the U.S. national forests and from publicly held
spotted owl (p. 314), and to let science guide management. state forests. On the national forests, U.S. Forest Service
employees manage timber sales and build roads to provide
Fear of a “timber famine” inspired access for logging companies. The Forest Service sells timber
national forests below the costs it incurs for marketing and administering the
harvest and for building access roads, while the companies
The United States began formally managing forest resources a go on to sell the timber they harvest for profit. In this way,
century ago, in response to rampant deforestation. The deple- taxpayers subsidize private timber harvesting on public land
tion of the eastern U.S. forests had prompted widespread (p.200). These subsidies also tend to inflate harvest levels
fear of a “timber famine.” This led the federal government beyond what would occur in a free market.
3
to form a system of forest reserves: public lands set aside to Timber companies extracted 10.7 million m (378 million
3
grow trees, produce timber, and protect water quality. Today ft ) of live timber from national forests in 2006, the most recent
the U.S. national forest system consists of 77 million ha (191 year for which comprehensive data are available. However, this
million acres), managed by the U.S. Forest Service and cover- is less than the amount harvested from other public lands, and it
ing over 8% of the nation’s land area (FIGURE 12.10). is much less than the amount cut on private lands (FIGURE 12.11).
The U.S. Forest Service was established in 1905 under At present, in an average year, about 2.1% of U.S. forest acreage
the leadership of Gifford Pinchot (p. 156). Pinchot and others is cut for timber. Overall, timber harvesting in the United States
developed the concepts of resource management, maximum and other developed nations has remained stable for the past
sustainable yield, and conservation during the Progressive Era, 45 years, while it has more than doubled in developing countries.
a time of social reform when people began using science to On timber industry land, companies manage their
inform public policy. In line with Pinchot’s conservation ethic resources in accordance with maximum sustainable yield, so
(p. 156–157), the Forest Service aimed to manage the forests as to obtain maximal profits each year over many years. On
for “the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run.” public lands, rates of tree removal and growth reflect social
Pinchot believed the nation should extract and use resources and political factors as well as economic ones, and these evolve
from its public lands, so timber harvesting was, from the start, over time. On the U.S. national forests, private timber extrac-
a goal of the national forests. But conservation meant planting tion increased in the 1950s as the nation experienced a postwar
trees as well as harvesting them, and the Forest Service set out economic boom, paper consumption rose, and the population
to manage the nation’s timber resources wisely. expanded into newly built suburban homes. Harvests from

FIGURE 12.10 U.S. citizens enjoy
over 250 million ha (600 million
Federal lands by agency acres) of public lands. These
Bureau of Indian Affairs include national forests, national
Bureau of Land Management parks, national wildlife refuges, Native
Fish and Wildlife Service American reservations, and Bureau
Forest Service of Land Management lands. Data from
334 National Park Service United States Geological Survey.

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