Forest Service Priorities: Evolving Mission Favors Resource Protection
Over Production (Letter Report, 06/17/1999, GAO/RCED-99-166).

The Forest Service's mission and funding priorities have evolved over
many years in response to laws, and Congress has never explicitly
accepted them or acknowledged their effects on the availability of
timber or other uses on the national forests. This report describes (1)
the priorities that the Congress set in enacting the National Forest
Management Act of 1976, which guides the development of plans for
managing national forests; (2) the Forest Service's current mission and
funding priorities and how they have evolved during the last two
decades; and (3) the effect of these priorities on the availability of
timber and on the costs of and receipts from timber sales. GAO found
that the act and other multiple-use laws intended to guide the
management of the national forests provide little guidance on how the
agency is to resolve conflicts or make choices among competing uses on
its lands.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  RCED-99-166
     TITLE:  Forest Service Priorities: Evolving Mission Favors
	     Resource Protection Over Production
      DATE:  06/17/1999
   SUBJECT:  National forests
	     Strategic planning
	     Forest management
	     Natural resources
	     Environmental law
	     Wildlife conservation
	     Agency missions
	     Timber sales
	     Forest conservation
IDENTIFIER:  Forest Service Timber Sales Program

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    United States General Accounting Office GAO                Report
    to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land
    Management, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U. S.
    Senate June 1999          FOREST SERVICE PRIORITIES Evolving
    Mission Favors Resource Protection Over Production GAO/RCED-99-166
    GAO                 United States General Accounting Office
    Washington, D.C. 20548 Resources, Community, and Economic
    Development Division B-282607 June 17, 1999 The Honorable Larry E.
    Craig Chairman, Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management
    Committee on Energy and Natural Resources United States Senate
    Dear Mr. Chairman: In a February 1997 testimony1 and an April 1997
    report,2 we stated that statutory changes to improve the
    efficiency and effectiveness of the Forest Service's decision-
    making process cannot be identified until the Congress and the
    agency reach agreement on which uses the Forest Service is to
    emphasize under its broad multiple-use and sustained-yield mission
    and how it is to resolve conflicts or make choices among competing
    uses on its lands. During the intervening 2 years, the Forest
    Service has clarified its overriding mission and funding
    priorities. However, these priorities are still "de facto" in that
    they have evolved over many years in response to many laws, and
    the Congress has never explicitly accepted them or acknowledged
    their effects on the availability of timber and other uses on the
    national forests. Therefore, as agreed, our report describes (1)
    the priorities that the Congress set in enacting the National
    Forest Management Act of 1976, which guides the development of
    plans for managing national forests; (2) the Forest Service's
    current mission and funding priorities and how they have evolved
    over the past 2 decades; and (3) the effect of these priorities on
    the availability of timber and on the costs of and receipts from
    timber sales. Results in Brief    The National Forest Management
    Act attempts to facilitate continuous levels of timber production
    on Forest Service lands while, at the same time, protecting and
    improving other forest resources, such as air, water, and wildlife
    and fish habitat. However, the act and other multiple-use laws
    intended to guide the management of the national forests provide
    little 1Forest Service Decision-Making: Greater Clarity Needed on
    Mission Priorities (GAO/T-RCED-97-81, Feb. 25, 1997). 2Forest
    Service Decision-Making: A Framework for Improving Performance
    (GAO/RCED-97-71, Apr. 29, 1997). Page 1
    GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607
    guidance on how the agency is to resolve conflicts or make choices
    among competing uses on its lands. The National Forest Management
    Act and other multiple-use laws guiding the management of the
    national forests provide little direction for the Forest Service
    in resolving conflicts among competing multiple uses on its lands.
    However, the requirements in environmental laws and their
    implementing regulations and judicial interpretations do. The
    Forest Service has responded to these environmental requirements
    and judicial interpretations over time. It has also responded to
    changing public values and concerns about the management of the
    national forests and to increased scientific understanding of the
    functioning of natural systems and their components. Over the past
    2 decades, the Forest Service has refocused its activities away
    from producing goods and services (such as timber) and toward
    protecting land health and forest resources. During the past year,
    the Forest Service clearly stated that its overriding mission and
    funding priority is to maintain or restore the health of the lands
    entrusted to its care. Furthermore, according to the Forest
    Service, it intends to limit goods and services on the national
    forests to the types, levels, and mixes imposed by considerations
    of land health and ecological sustainability. As the Forest
    Service has increased its emphasis on resource protection and
    ecological sustainability, the timber harvested on national
    forests has decreased substantially, in both quantity and quality.
    At the same time, the per-unit costs to prepare, sell, and harvest
    timber have increased dramatically while the receipts have
    declined sharply. Background    The Forest Service, created in
    1905, manages about 192 million acres of land-nearly 9 percent of
    the nation's total surface area and about 30 percent of all
    federal lands. Laws guiding the management of the forests require
    the Forest Service to apply the principles of multiple use and
    sustained yield to meet the diverse needs of the American people.
    In managing its lands in accordance with these principles, the
    agency provides a variety of goods and services. Goods include
    timber, natural gas, oil, minerals, and lands for livestock to
    graze. Watersheds on Forest Service lands provide drinking water
    to thousands of communities, and the national forests themselves
    offer opportunities to the public for camping, hiking, and
    rafting. The Forest Service's activities are subject not only to
    the laws governing multiple uses but also to the requirements of
    numerous environmental Page 2                           GAO/RCED-
    99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607 statutes,
    such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered
    Species Act. These requirements form the basis for defining the
    agency's mission and priorities. Act Seeks to Balance
    The National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA) reinforces the
    Continuous Levels of             mission laid out for the Forest
    Service in other governing statutes-that the agency will both
    provide goods and services, such as timber and Timber Production
    recreation, and protect forest resources, such as clean air and
    water, With the Protection of aesthetics, and fish and wildlife
    habitat. However, NFMA, much like the agency's other governing
    statutes, does not provide direction to the Forest Natural
    Resources                Service for making choices among
    competing uses on its lands. Threats to Logging and
    Before NFMA's enactment in 1976, three statutes bore primary
    Concerns About the               responsibility for guiding
    multiple uses on the national forests: the Organic Environment
    Administration Act of 1897 (the Organic Act), the Multiple-Use
    Sustained-Yield Act of 1960, and the Forest and Rangeland
    Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974. Under the Organic Act,
    the national forests are established to improve and protect the
    forests within their boundaries or to secure favorable water flow
    conditions and provide a continuous supply of timber to citizens.
    The Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act directs the Forest Service to
    manage its lands so that they may be used for various purposes-
    including recreation; rangeland; wilderness; and the protection of
    watersheds, fish, and wildlife-and to ensure that the agency's
    management of the lands does not impair their long-term
    productivity. The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources
    Planning Act requires the Forest Service to prepare assessments,
    inventories, and plans to manage its lands. The cumulative effect
    of these statutes is to direct the Forest Service to manage its
    lands for environmental protection and for recreational
    opportunities, as well as to provide continuous levels of certain
    goods, including timber, oil and gas, minerals, and forage for
    grazing livestock. No one use of the national forests is given
    priority in any of these laws. However, the agency is required to
    manage its lands to sustain undiminished their ability to produce
    these uses for future generations. From its creation in 1905 to
    World War II, the Forest Service played a primarily custodial
    role, and livestock grazing was the primary commercial use on the
    national forests and grasslands. After World War II, rapid
    economic growth dramatically increased the nation's demand for
    timber. Accordingly, timber sales on Forest Service lands
    flourished, rising from Page 3                        GAO/RCED-99-
    166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607 just under 4
    billion board feet in 1950 to about 12 billion board feet in 1969.
    As the demand for federal timber rose, so did the number of
    Americans using federal lands for recreation. Beginning in the
    1950s, as more people visited national forests and saw the results
    of timber harvests-primarily clear-cuts-on the national forests,
    debate intensified over the extent to which federal lands should
    be preserved or used for timber production. Moreover, as timber
    production continued to rise, so did the efforts of the
    environmental community to protect the nation's lands and natural
    resources. The 1960s and 1970s saw the creation of the U.S.
    Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of numerous
    environmental statutes, including the Wilderness Act, the National
    Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean
    Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
    Figure 1 tracks trends in timber production and recreation on
    Forest Service lands during the last half century. Page 4
    GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607
    Figure 1: Volume of Timber Sold From and Number of Visitor Days in
    National    15 Board feet in billions
    Visitor days in thousands 350 Forests, Fiscal Years 1950-97 300 12
    250 9
    200 150 6 100 3 50 0
    0 1950    1953     1956    1959    1962    1965    1968    1971
    1974    1977    1980    1983    1986    1989    1992    1995
    1997 Fiscal year Board feet Visitor days Source: Forest Service.
    While these environmental statutes were being enacted, a landmark
    lawsuit in West Virginia against the Forest Service threatened to
    curtail logging on the national forests. In 1975, the Court of
    Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a 1973 federal district
    court decision mandating adherence to a long-ignored provision in
    the Organic Act that limited commercial sales of trees to those
    that were dead, physiologically mature, or large.3 Essentially,
    this decision, which applied only to Forest Service 3West Virginia
    Div. of the Izaak Walton League of America v. Butz, 522 F. 2d 945
    (4th Cir. 1975). Page 5
    GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607
    land within the court's jurisdiction, banned clear-cutting, the
    harvesting method of choice on the national forests at that time.
    Had the decision been applied nationally, the Forest Service
    estimated that it would have reduced timber harvests on federal
    lands by 50 percent. NFMA Seeks to Protect     During this period
    of concern about the future of timber harvests on the Timber
    Harvesting and     national forests and of growing support for
    protecting the environment, Other Forest Resources    the Congress
    enacted NFMA. The legislative history shows that, among other
    things, the act was an attempt to, at a minimum, maintain existing
    timber harvest levels and to protect and improve other forest
    resources, such as fish and wildlife habitat. The act aims to
    sustain a continuous harvest level by repealing the provision of
    the Organic Act that limited logging. According to the report of
    the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry that accompanied
    the act, the Committee expected that the amount of timber
    harvested on federal lands would continue to increase as the
    Forest Service implemented NFMA and managed the forests for
    multiple uses.4 The Committee also noted the importance of
    providing for diverse plant and animal communities and of
    protecting soil, water, aesthetic, and wildlife resources. While
    establishing long-term goals, NFMA does not provide direction for
    achieving them. For example, it does not indicate how much timber
    and other commodities should be provided, which uses of national
    forests should have priority, or how conflicts among uses should
    be resolved. NFMA's legislative history is also silent on these
    matters. As a result, the Forest Service is expected to provide
    for continuous levels of certain goods and services and for the
    protection of other resources, even when providing for one may
    conflict with sustaining another. 4S. Rep. No. 94-893 (1976). Page
    6                         GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's
    Evolving Mission B-282607 The Forest Service's             While
    NFMA and other statutes intended to guide the Forest Service's
    Mission and Funding              management of the national
    forests provide little direction for the agency in resolving
    conflicts among competing uses on its lands, the requirements
    Priorities Emphasize             in environmental laws and their
    implementing regulations and judicial Protecting the
    interpretations do. Over time, these environmental requirements
    and judicial interpretations, together with changing public values
    and concerns Environment Over                 about the management
    of the national forests and better ecological Producing Timber and
    information, have led the Forest Service to change the mix of its
    activities, Other Goods and                  shifting the focus
    from production toward protection. Services The Forest Service Has
    The past 2 decades have seen significant changes in how the Forest
    Increased Its Emphasis on        Service does business. Perhaps
    most marked is the change in the agency's Protecting the
    own description of its mission. In the mid-1970s, the Forest
    Service Environment                      believed that its role
    was primarily to produce timber and, more generally, to serve as a
    steward of the land. Today, the agency states that maintaining and
    restoring the health of the land is its overriding priority5 and
    that outputs of goods and services will be accomplished within the
    "ecological sideboards imposed by land health."6 In speeches
    outlining the Forest Service's Natural Resource Agenda, the Chief,
    in March 1998 and February 1999,7 unambiguously emphasized land
    health, including watershed restoration and ecological
    sustainability.8 In his February 1999 speech, for instance, he
    noted that over 65 percent of the national forest plans will be
    revised within the next 5 years and that "watershed health and
    restoration will be the overriding priority in all future forest
    plan revisions." 5FY2000 Budget Explanatory Notes for the
    Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
    Forest Service. 6"Protecting and Restoring a Nation's Land Health
    Legacy," Speech, Chief, U.S. Forest Service (Feb. 3, 1999). 7"A
    Gradual Unfolding of a National Purpose: A Natural Resource Agenda
    for the 21st Century," Speech, Chief, U.S. Forest Service (Mar. 2,
    1998) and "Protecting and Restoring a Nation's Land Health
    Legacy," Speech, Chief, U.S. Forest Service (Feb. 3, 1999).
    8Ecological sustainability means maintaining the composition
    (biological diversity), structure (biological and physical
    attributes, such as large trees, unconstrained rivers, and habitat
    patterns), and processes (including photosynthesis, water
    movement, and disturbance) of an ecological system. Page 7
    GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607
    Statutory Requirements,                       The Endangered
    Species Act has played a substantial role in steering the Changing
    Public Values,                       Forest Service toward
    protection. In particular, section 7 of the act and Better
    Information                        represents a congressional
    design to give greater priority to the protection Have Increased
    the Forest                     of endangered species than to the
    other missions of the Forest Service and 9 Service's Focus on the
    other federal agencies.  When proposing a project, the Forest
    Service bears the burden of demonstrating that its actions will
    not likely Environment
    jeopardize threatened and endangered species. The number of
    threatened and endangered species on national forests and
    grasslands has risen more than sevenfold in the 26 years since the
    act was passed in 1973. (See fig. 2.) Figure 2: Number of
    Threatened and Endangered Species With Habitat on Forest Service
    Lands, Fiscal Years 1973-98 400 Number of species 350 300 250 200
    150 100 50 0 1973           1975    1977    1979     1981
    1983          1985         1987         1989      1991      1993
    1995      1997 Fiscal year Source: Forest Service. The Forest
    Service is required by regulations implementing the National
    Environmental Policy Act to assess the effects of activities
    occurring outside the national forests, such as timber harvesting
    on state and private lands, in deciding which uses to emphasize on
    its lands. In addition, other environmental laws, their
    implementing regulations, and judicial 9TVA v. Hill, 437 U.S.
    153,185 (1978). Page 8
    GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607
    interpretations require that the agency protect the diversity of
    species and other components of natural systems, including clean
    water and clean air. In recent years, the Congress has
    increasingly withdrawn lands on the national forests for
    conservation-as wilderness, wild and scenic rivers, national
    monuments, and recreational areas. By 1994, about one-fourth of
    the national forests were being managed for conservation.10
    According to the Forest Service, within the "ecological
    sideboards" imposed by legal thresholds and land health, a wide
    range of management options exists, and the mix of goods and
    services provided is as much a social decision as it is a
    scientific one. Within this decision space, the agency has
    increasingly chosen to emphasize land health and ecological
    sustainability, responding in part to changing public values and
    concerns about the management of the national forests. For
    example, in June 1992, the Forest Service announced plans to
    reduce the amount of timber harvested by clear-cutting by as much
    as 70 percent from fiscal year 1988 levels in order to manage the
    national forests in a more environmentally sensitive manner. In
    addition, the Forest Service recently issued an interim rule to
    prohibit the construction of new roads in roadless areas on many
    national forests for 18 months while the agency develops a policy
    for the construction and maintenance of future roads.11 According
    to the Chief, the Forest Service "will rarely build roads into
    roadless areas," and when it does, "it will be in order to
    accomplish broader ecological objectives."12 The agency has also
    used its discretionary authority to set aside or withdraw an
    increasing percentage of its lands for conservation. For example,
    in February 1999, it withdrew an additional 429,000 acres in
    Montana from mining and observed that many areas on the national
    forests are simply not appropriate for activities such as mining.
    Over the years, the Forest Service has also learned more about the
    importance of maintaining and restoring natural systems-such as
    watersheds, airsheds, soils, and vegetative and animal
    communities-to ensure the long-term sustainability of other forest
    uses, including timber production. In addition, the agency has
    increasingly recognized that its past management decisions have
    led to degraded aquatic habitats, declining populations of some
    wildlife species, and increased forest health 10Land Ownership:
    Information on the Acreage, Management, and Use of Federal and
    Other Lands (GAO/RCED-96-40, Mar. 13, 1996) and Federal Land Use
    (GAO/RCED-96-139R, May 7, 1996). 1164 Fed. Reg. 7290 (Feb. 12,
    1999). 12"Protecting and Restoring a Nation's Land Health Legacy,"
    Speech, Chief, U.S. Forest Service (Feb. 3, 1999). Page 9
    GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607
    problems. These decisions include the agency's decades-old policy
    of suppressing fires on the national forests, which has increased
    the density of undergrowth and trees, creating high levels of
    fuels for catastrophic wildfires.13 The Agency Has Adopted
    To accommodate the requirements of the Endangered Species Act and
    an Ecological Approach to    other environmental laws, the Forest
    Service and other federal land Management to Avoid or
    management agencies have turned to a science-based, ecological
    approach Prevail Against Legal        for managing their lands and
    resources. This approach, called ecosystem Challenges
    management, is designed to (1) ensure the sustained functioning of
    natural systems by analyzing and planning along their boundaries
    rather than along the boundaries of national forests and other
    federal land management units and (2) integrate people and
    resources from different programs to maintain and restore the
    health of forested, aquatic, and rangeland ecosystems.14 According
    to the Forest Service, an ecosystem-based approach to management
    considers ecological, economic, and social factors in determining
    how to best maintain and enhance the quality of the environment to
    meet current and future needs for recreation, water, timber,
    minerals, fish, wildlife, and wilderness on the national forests.
    Federal courts have agreed with the Forest Service's ecological
    approach to land management. The Forest Service and the Department
    of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management used an ecosystem-
    based approach to develop a 1994 plan to manage 22.3 million acres
    of federal land in the Pacific Northwest (primarily western
    Washington, western Oregon, and northern California). Both
    industry and environmental groups challenged the legality of the
    plan, contending, among other things, that the agencies had not
    adequately complied with environmental laws. However, the District
    Court for the Western District of Washington upheld the plan and
    the ecosystem approach, finding that the agencies had acted within
    the bounds of the law. In reaching its decision, the district
    court noted that "[g]iven the current condition of the forests,
    there is no way the agencies could comply with the environmental
    laws without planning on an 13Western National Forests: A Cohesive
    Strategy Is Needed to Address Catastrophic Wildfire Threats
    (GAO/RCED-99-65, Apr. 2, 1999.) 14For a more complete description
    of ecosystem management, see Ecosystem Management: Additional
    Actions Needed to Adequately Test a Promising Approach (GAO/RCED-
    94-111, Aug. 16, 1994). Page 10
    GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607
    ecosystem basis."15 The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
    affirmed the judgment of the district court. Similarly, in
    December 1997, the Secretary of Agriculture convened an
    interdisciplinary committee of scientists to review and evaluate
    the Forest Service's planning process and to identify changes that
    might be needed to the agency's planning regulations. In its March
    1999 report,16 the committee stated that conserving habitat for
    native species and the productivity of ecological systems remains
    the surest path to maintaining ecological sustainability. The
    committee suggested that, to conserve these key elements of
    sustainability, a scientific assessment of the ecological
    integrity of ecosystems be used in tandem with monitoring the
    viability of the native species themselves. Emphasizing Land
    As the Forest Service has increased its emphasis on land health
    and Health Constrains       ecological sustainability, the timber
    harvested on national forests has declined in quantity and
    quality. The costs per thousand board feet to Other Uses on the
    prepare and sell the timber, as well as the costs to harvest it,
    have National Forests        increased, and the receipts generated
    have been substantially lower. As Harvesting Has       Between
    1976, when the Congress enacted NFMA, and 1997, the volume of
    Declined, Costs Have    timber sold from Forest Service lands
    decreased nearly 70 percent. (See Risen for Timber        fig. 1.)
    The quality of the timber also declined as the agency's purpose in
    offering timber sales shifted from providing wood fiber to
    improving or maintaining the health of the national forests. For
    example, most of the trees that need to be removed to reduce
    accumulated fuels and lower the risk of catastrophic fires are
    small in diameter and have little or no commercial value.17
    Restrictions on the location and age of trees that can be
    harvested have also reduced the quality of the timber. Older, more
    commercially valuable trees often cannot be harvested because of
    their value as species habitat. As the quantity and quality of
    timber have declined, the per-unit costs to the Forest Service and
    logging companies have increased-in some cases 15Seattle Audubon
    Soc-y v. Espy, 871 F. Supp. 1291, 1311 (W.D. Wash. 1994) aff'd
    sub. nom. Seattle Audobon Soc-y v. Moseley, 80 F.3d 1401 (9th Cir.
    1996). 16Sustaining the People's Lands: Recommendations for
    Stewardship of the National Forests and Grasslands into the Next
    Century, Committee of Scientists, U.S. Department of Agriculture
    (Mar. 15, 1999). 17Western National Forests: A Cohesive Strategy
    Is Needed to Address Catastrophic Wildlife Threats (GAO/RCED-99-
    65, Apr. 2, 1999.) Page 11
    GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607
    dramatically. For example, the agency's per-unit costs of
    preparing and administering timber sales designed to improve
    forest health rose over 70 percent from fiscal year 1993 through
    fiscal year 1997. In the same 5 years, the costs per thousand
    board feet of preparing and administering timber sales designed to
    provide wood fiber rose nearly 40 percent. This increase was
    largely attributable to the higher proportions of fixed costs
    (e.g., the expenses associated with depreciation on existing
    facilities and roads) and administrative costs (for activities
    such as sale preparation and harvest administration) associated
    with lower harvest levels. Moreover, when timber is harvested to
    improve land health, the costs of its removal are generally higher
    than when it is harvested for other purposes because only trees of
    certain sizes and ages may be logged in certain locations. The
    Forest Service's June 1992 policy to reduce the amount of timber
    harvested by clear-cutting has also increased the costs of logging
    for private companies because other methods of harvesting are
    generally more expensive than clear-cutting. For private companies
    in the Pacific Northwest, the use of more environmentally
    sensitive, but costlier, harvest methods increased the per-unit
    costs of logging over 150 percent between 1980 and 1997. (See fig.
    3.) Page 12                         GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest
    Service's Evolving Mission B-282607 Figure 3: Cost Per Thousand
    Board Feet to Cut and Remove Timber in     300 Dollars National
    Forests in Western Washington and Western Oregon, Fiscal Years
    1980-97                 250 200 150 100 50 0 1980      1982
    1984    1986    1988    1990    1992     1994    1996 Fiscal year
    Source: Timber Data Company. Revenue from timber sales has also
    declined. Timber sales have traditionally generated more than 90
    percent of the total receipts on the national forests. However, as
    the quantity and quality of timber sold have declined, so too have
    total timber sales receipts. For example, from fiscal year 1992
    through fiscal year 1997, total timber sales receipts declined 55
    percent, from $1.2 billion to $555 million. (See fig. 4.) Page 13
    GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest Service's Evolving Mission B-282607
    Figure 4: Total Timber Sales Receipts, Fiscal Years 1992-97
    1400    Constant dollars in thousands 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0
    1992               1993               1994               1995
    1996              1997 Fiscal year Source: GAO's analysis of data
    from the Forest Service. These declines in the quantity and
    quality of timber and in the revenue generated from timber sales
    on national forests are not likely to change, given the current
    statutory and regulatory framework, recent judicial
    interpretations, and the Forest Service's policies. For instance,
    the agency estimates that sales of between 170 million and 260
    million board feet, currently planned for fiscal years 1999 and
    2000, may be delayed because of the 18-month suspension of road
    construction. In addition, the Forest Service has noted that
    recreation as well as timber will likely be affected by the
    agency's increased focus on the environment. In his February 1999
    speech,18 the Chief likened recreation to timber 20 years ago and
    cautioned that, to avoid what happened to the timber industry,
    recreation must occur within the ecological sideboards imposed by
    land health. That same month, we reported that the Forest Service
    had begun to restrict some recreational uses on the Sawtooth
    National 18"Protecting and Restoring a Nation's Land Health
    Legacy," Speech, Chief, U.S. Forest Service (Feb. 3, 1999). Page
    14                                  GAO/RCED-99-166 The Forest
    Service's Evolving Mission B-282607 Recreation Area in central
    Idaho to protect threatened and endangered salmon species and
    wilderness.19 Agency Comments    We provided a draft of this
    report to the Forest Service for review and comment. The Forest
    Service commented that the report accurately and fairly presented
    information on the evolution of the Forest Service's mission. The
    Forest Service also provided technical clarifications, which we
    incorporated into the report. Scope and          We conducted our
    review from January 1999 to April 1999 in accordance Methodology
    with generally accepted government auditing standards. In
    conducting the review, we examined the laws guiding the management
    of the Forest Service, including NFMA and its legislative history.
    We also reviewed judicial decisions pertaining to the Forest
    Service's implementation of these laws. In addition, we examined
    the agency's strategic plans, annual reports, speeches, and other
    documents describing its mission and priorities. Finally, we
    analyzed trends in the Forest Service's production of goods and
    services. As arranged with your office, unless you publicly
    announce its contents earlier, we plan no further distribution of
    this report for 10 days after the date of this letter. We will
    then send copies to the Honorable Dan Glickman, Secretary of
    Agriculture; and the Honorable Michael Dombeck, Chief of the
    Forest Service. We will also make copies available to others on
    request. 19National Forests: Funding the Sawtooth National
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