Abstract
The sale of timber from national forests is a major enterprise. Since the turn of the century, the United States Forest Service ("Forest Service") has sold over sixteen billion dollars worth of timber, mostly in the Western states, and the agency presently manages over one-half the nation's inventory of merchantable softwood sawtimber. National forest timber sales have also been controversial, as evidenced by the mid-1970s environmental controversies and lawsuits that threatened to halt the Forest Service's timber sale program. Congress responded by enacting the National Forest Management Act of 1976 ("NFMA"), which, among other provisions, grants the Forest Service broad authority to sell the nation's timber. The NFMA, along with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, appears to have settled most of the environmental disputes over timber harvesting practices, and now attention has shifted to the economic aspects of the Forest Service's timber sale program. In a report on the United States Department of Agriculture, the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control noted in 1983 that the Forest Service manages 190 million acres, employs over 42,000 people, and posts losses of one billion dollars per year. In a time of enormous budget deficits, when most government programs are being scrutinized for inefficiencies, it is not surprising that the economics of timber sales has become a major issue.
Recommended Citation
Barrett, Kenneth R.
(1987)
"Section 6(k) of the National Forest ManagementAct: The Bottom Line on Below-CostTimber Sales?,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 1987:
No.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol1987/iss2/3