MANY people share my deep concern with improving and protecting the wildlife, watersheds, and recreation values of forests. Good policy links these goods with sound economic practices. All require landowners’ confidence in the future. The proposed export ban on raw logs from private lands subverts this confidence and undermines the management required to reach these […]
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IT is easy to understand why some people find banning private log exports an attractive idea. Superficially, it appears to save jobs, reduce domestic timber prices and slow environmental degradation caused by logging. But there are good, ethical reasons why a ban makes little sense. In later columns, I will discuss the likely economic and […]
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ECONOMIES are like ecosystems in that everything is tied to everything else. We cannot do only one thing. Protecting owls by limiting timber harvest has multiple consequences, mostly unintended. People anticipate outcomes, estimate how regulations affect their security and livelihood, and often change their behavior accordingly. Regulations that ignore this interconnectedness can make matters worse, […]
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PEOPLE who believe in the power of government to do good probably found it outrageous that the U.S. Senate squandered weeks debating higher grazing fees, a financially trivial issue. The Western Senators’ filibuster diverted the Senate from critically important issues like NAFTA and health care. But this posturing is a predictable consequence of political management […]
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THE debate over old-growth forests pits preservationists against those depending on this timber for their livelihood. With each side committed to different uses of nature, conflict seems inevitable, for not all good things go together. This conflict is heightened by public ownership and political control. Special-interest groups are special precisely because they focus on their […]
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THE RECENT forest conference in Portland was, as expected, both well-attended and highly publicized. The scene, however, was more impressive than was the substance. Virtually nothing was resolved. Unfortunately, this is a predictable consequence of political decision-making. And the conference’s politicking and posturing overshadowed that week’s true environmental milestone: the inaugural sale of pollution rights […]
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WHEN considering the proposed “Ancient Forest Summit” or “Timber Summit” (word choice is significant), we should carefully segregate our hopes from our expectations. Yet I’m hopeful that the summit will increase understanding and improve policy. Here’s why. Twenty years ago my colleagues and I at Montana State University advocated market incentives and property rights as […]
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THE Shoshone National Forest near Dubois, Wyo., is an important part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. But the forest has maintained a money-losing logging program. In any rational system, the ecological, recreation, watershed and wildlife values would easily trump logging in the Shoshone. Even the purely economic cost of logging the Shoshone exceed the benefits. […]
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THERE is much talk today about “reinventing government.” The goal is to both improve outcomes and save dollars. The Forest Service is an excellent candidate for such reforms. The Forest Service’s creators are credited with high ideals, but America’s sylvan socialism has suffered the liabilities of socialism elsewhere. The Forest Service was created because of […]
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MANY recreationalists bristle at the prospect of recreation fees on our national forests. Why should we pay to hike on “our” land? They are outraged, however, when they encounter clear-cuts near timberline on these same lands. But if they could choose between recreation fees and timber cutting, might fees then be accepted as the lesser […]
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