A Vision for the U.S. Forest Service: Goals for Its Next Century

What lies ahead for America's first conservation-based agency? What objectives should it set? What reforms will be most effective in allowing the Forest Service to carry out its mission?

A Vision for the U.S. Forest Service is both a "look forward" and a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the agency. The engaging, non-technical contributions of scholars, policymakers, and forestry officials provide broad reflections on the agency's past and future, contemporary perspectives about the use and stewardship of public lands, and insightful analyses about the science involved in the practice of "scientific management." The authors offer challenging ideas for evaluating the performance of the Forest Service, reshaping its mission, enhancing its effectiveness, improving internal morale, and increasing public participation in the agency.

Roger Sedjo and his coauthors intend to stimulate renewed attention to an agency that has had a history of both distinction and controversy. They have developed a work that will have great appeal to long-time observers of the Forest Service; past and present employees of the agency; industry, activists, and advocacy groups; public officials; and anyone with an interest in public land use and the future of U.S. forests.

The topics included in this volume were first presented at a national conference sponsored by Resources for the Future and the U.S. Forest Service. A Vision for the U.S. Forest Service is dedicated to the memory of Marion Clawson, a devoted scholar and expert in resource and environmental economics.

Contributors are Clark S. Binkley, Daniel B. Botkin, Hanna J. Cortner, Sally K. Fairfax, Paul W. Hirt, Robert H. Nelson, Randal O'Toole, R. Max Peterson, Mark Rey, Kenneth L. Rosenbaum, V. Alaric Sample, Roger A. Sedjo, Jack Ward Thomas, and Christopher A. Wood.

Roger A. Sedjo is a senior fellow in the Energy and Natural Resources division of Resources for the Future. He is most recently the author of Sustainability of Temperate Forests.