A Burning Issue: a Case for Abolishing the U.S. Forest Service.

• Author: Johnson, Ronald N.
• Position: Book Reviews

* A Burning Issue: A Case for Abolishing the U.S. Forest Service By Robert H. Nelson Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000. Pp. xvii, 196. $24.95.

In A Burning Issue, Robert Nelson argues that the U.S. Forest Service is demoralized within and besieged from without by a wide array of interest groups. He attributes this sorry state of affairs to the Forest Service's inability to define its mission in a time of rapidly changing values in American society. His solution to this predicament is to abolish the agency.

When the Forest Service was created in the early twentieth century, its mission was relatively clear: to supply timber to meet the material needs for wood of an expanding national economy. Over the years, the mission has been transformed from one of supplying commodities, such as timber and grass, to one of supporting the principle of multiple use, with recreation added to the mix of traditional commodity uses. Even though the principle of multiple use led to conflicting and contradictory policies, it was a more manageable state of affairs than its successor. Today, ecological sustainability, as espoused within the broader framework of ecosystem management, has become the foundation on which the national forests are to be managed.

In the earlier years, when its mission was relatively clear, the Forest Service was considered a model agency and acclaimed for its adherence to scientific management principles and for its dedicated workforce. Those who worked for the agency, as I did in the early 1960s, had little doubt about the agency's mission. We were there primarily to manage the national forests for timber production. Fire was the enemy, and stories of suppressing blazes against impossible odds would fill evening discussions. Nelson argues that even the earlier successes were exaggerated. The Progressive Era concepts of scientific management were flawed, especially with respect to fire policy. A theology of timber management existed that called for almost complete protection of timber from the ravages of fire. The culture of the Forest Service from its early days exhibited a strong conviction of doing God's work in the world, a moral righteousness that was embroidered with scientific technology. This conviction led to numerous and costly policy decisions because basic economic principles, such as time discounting, were ignored. As the title of his book suggests, however, Nelson believes a failed fire policy is most responsible...