Pathway to Sustainability: Defining the Bounds on Forest Management

The progress of forest management in the United States: A broad and bounded path that leads us to the goal of sustainability? Or a tree that branches as it grows? Or chaos?
Four noted scholars offer their views on the evolution of forestry. Hal Salwasser, dean and director of the forest research laboratory at Oregon State University’s College of Forestry, poses provocative questions about the nature of forestry as the discipline seeks to meet society’s needs while conserving the resource. John Fedkiw, senior policy adviser and analyst for USDA Secretary’s Office for 28 years, believes the same pathway that has led forestry through the thickets of multiple-use and ecosystem management can now take us to our new goal, sustainability. Douglas W. MacCleery, senior policy analyst in forest and rangeland management for the National Forest System, finds reason for optimism in the record of the past, where he sees evidence that forestry can meet its latest challenge. V. Alaric Sample, president of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, cautions that conserving biodiversity will require new approaches and adjustment of our course along the pathway.
These papers enlighten and illuminate sustainability both as a dynamic goal and a dynamic process and outline the challenges it presents to society, it’s policy makers, and forest managers. They help us to understand sustainability in its political dimensions and to approach sustainability systematically as a dynamic, integrative societal process on the land.