MANAGING MumpLE USES ON NATIONALFoREsTs 1905-1995 A 90-year Learning Exi It Isn't Finished Yet : - 1.. I USDA UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Managing Multiple Uses on National Forests, 1905 to 1995: A 90-Year Learning Experience and It Isn't Finished Yet by John Fedkiw Dedication To the national forest resource managers and staff who, over 90 years, have devoted their knowledge and skills to the stewardship of the national forests and grasslands which make up nearly one-twelfth of the U.S. lands and waters. and To my wife, Helen, for her loving support of my professional aspirations through all our years together. Foreword Once in a while, a truly challenging book comes Managing multiple uses on national forests has along. This is one! Dr. john Fedkiw unfolds a story always included many aspects of the ecological that has not been told this way or this thoroughly approach to resource management an approach before. It is the story of how the dedicated conser- that the Forest Service explicitly adopted in1992. vationists of the Forest Service have managed the We are well on a pathway to the holistic ecological public lands, waters, and resources of the United approach to managing multiple uses on national States and served the public trust for over90years. forests. We are again "Breaking New Ground" and, together with the American people, extending the This story is not an easy one to tell. Each generation learning experience that has always been a part of the has had different expectations for the use and enjoy- use and management of the National Forest System ment of the national forests and grasslands and for the lands and resources. other programs of the Forest Service. What emerges from this book is an understanding that Society has sent and continues to send the the Forest Service has always found a way to obey the Forest Service mixed signals over ts priorities. law, care for the land, and serve people, giving Throughout its history, the Forest Service has been society most of what it wanted with extraordinary buffeted by poi itical, factional, and intergenerational efficiency. Forest Service employees, agency disputes. Reflecting society's strife, each Administra- partners, and everyone who cares about this Nation's tion and Congress has set different, sometimes con- natural treasures owe Dr. Fedkiw their thanks. flicting, priorities. As a result, there has never been quite enough money, people, or time available to the Forest Service to do the impossible - accomplishing everything that society has asked. Redacted for Privacy Nevertheless, Forest Service management of multiple uses on national forests has been resourceful in adapting to changes in society's expectations and to new knowledge and technology and in implementing Jack Ward Thomas productivity improvements to overcome limitations of Chief, USDA Forest Service,1 993-1 996 budgets. Preface This project, Managing Muttiple Uses on National the anthropocentric objective that use or choice of Forests, 1 905-1 995, was undertaken with the direct nonuse implied, there was little need for managing support and approval of the Chief of the Forest Ser- national forests aside from protecting and admin- vice, F. Dale Robertson, and Associate Chief George istering public property. So the method of the story M. Leonard and the concurrence of the U.S Depart- and account of managing multiple uses on national ment of Agriculture's Acting Assistant Secretary for forests responded to the following basic questions: Natural Resources and the Environment, John H. Beuter. The original intent was to provide a substan- . Who used the national forests and why? tive account of what "multiple-use management" was How were these uses implemented (managed) on all about in terms of principles, guidelines, and the ground? standards followed. The initial outline and proposal were prepared with the advice and guidance of Hal . What happened (over time)? Salwasser, Director, and James Caplan, Assistant Director, of the New Perspective Project. It was From this perspective, managing multiple uses on justified as necessary documentation to the 1 990 national forests emerges as the fitting of multiple Forest and Rangeland Resources Program emphasis uses into ecosystems according to their capability to on "multiple-use management" as a leading "role" support the uses compatibly with existing uses on for the Forest Service, particularly the National the same or adjoining areas, in ways that would Forest System. sustain the use's outputs, services, and benefits, and forest resources and ecosystems for future The approach through principles, guidelines, and generations. standards for multiple-use management proved infeasible because there was no systematic doc- Because the multiple uses were explicitly differenti- umentation; there were no specific budgets, pro- ated into categories (user groups) and because their grams, staffing, organization, accounting, or management knowledge and art were developed by reporting for multiple-use management per Se. function, the uses were also largely implemented by A top-down policy approach was infeasible because function on national forests. Crhere were few user the policy direction for managing national forests for advocates for "multiple use" per Se. Users generally multiple uses dd not give any specific guidelines for advocated their particular interests, usually recog- applying this policy to specific land areas where nizing the need to "share" the land with other users management for multiple uses was actually taking with different objectives when the uses were com- place. Upon pondering this dead end, it became patible and to compete for the land when they were evident that multiple-use management was not a not). That is the way the story of managing multiple system or method as the term and its connotation uses on national forests is here told. Over time, implied. Rather, it referred to the policy direction to implementation of overlapping and adjoining uses manage National Forest System lands for multiple- becomes progressively a matter of technical plan- use purposes and values. ning and coordinating; then integrating multiple disciplines; next, interdisciplinary team planning; and Because the level and mix of uses of national forest now, an ecosystem approach to managing multiple eocsystems changed over time in response to shifts uses. The fitting of multiple uses within the capa- in demands, technology, knowledge, and social bilities of ecosystems and compatibly with existing values, there seemed to be no other way to cover the uses became the development of sustainable systems subject of managing multiple uses on national forests for recreation, wildlife, fisheries, watershed, timber, than to tell it empiricallyfrom beginning to end, landscape, range, wilderness, minerals, and many 1 905 to 1 995, use by use, area by area, year by year, other more specific uses within national forest and decade by decade. Following this approach, it soon rangeland ecosystem. Thus, managing multiple uses became clear that the uses and users were the became analogous to forest management and the "drivers" of national forest management; for that ecosystem approach to management and evolved matter, of all resource management. Without use and within a changing framework of the state of the art Preface and knowledge and societal values. The art and the under the administration of the USDA Forest Service knowledge, for forest management and the ecosys- from 1905 to 1995. It is so viewed here in this story of tem approach to management, are both dynamic in managing multiple uses on national forests. response to changing uses, technology, knowledge, and societal values. The Epilogue sums up this story as a 90-year learning experience for national forest resource managers, The modern effort to move from the traditional resource professionals generally, and the American management for multiple uses to "ecosystem man- people. With the formal adoption of the ecosystem agement" or, as it has been expressed and adopted management approach to managing multiple uses for national forests, to an "ecological approach to and benefits in 1992, national forest managers are management for multiple benefits" can be viewed once again "Breaking New Ground" in the tradition in an historical context as an evolutionary rather of the Conservation Movement as expressed by than a revolutionary shiftan extension of the Gifford Pinchot. The learning experience is now evolving management of national forests that began being extended into the future within the ecosystem with the Organic Act of 1897 under the administra- framework of management. tion of the Department of the Interior and continued VIII Acknowledgments I have received help from many people in telling James W. Giltmier, Executive Editor, The Con- this story about managing multiple uses on national servation Legacy, The Newsletter of the Pinchot forests and am pleased to acknowledge these Institute for Conservation, Washington, DC. contributions. Lawrence W. Hill, Director, Forest Policy, Society My deepest gratitude goes to Norene Blair, Office of of American Foresters, Bethesda, MD. Public Affairs, Forest Service, Washington, DC, who George M. Leonard, retired, Former Associate collaborated on this manuscript and carefully and Chief of the Forest Service, Fairfax, VA. patiently reviewed and edited repeated drafts. These efforts have added substantially to the coherence of Douglas W. MacCleery, Assistant Director, Forest the manuscript and its readability. Norene has also Ecosystems and Planning, Timber Management worked at au organizational levels of the Forest Staff, USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC. Service, from the ranger district to the Washington John R. McGuire, retired, Former Chief of the Office, so she ground-truthed much of my manu- Forest Service, Gaithersburg, MD. script. I am especially grateful to Norene for her sup- port of the idea of the book - a story that needed to Mark A. Reimers, retired, Former Deputy Chief, be told and her gentle, but constructive encourage- Programs and Legislation, USDA Forest Service, ment to return to the story and complete it when Washington, DC.