The 1897 Organic Act: National Forests Must Serve Communities
Former Forest Service timber management official Wayne Knauf calls for a return to the principles of the 1897 Organic Act, arguing that National Forests exist to support communities, jobs, schools, and roads—not to be locked away—and that two decades of failed federal management have reduced timber
I'm concerned. We're talking about primarily fire, but there's more to managing the National Forests than worrying about fire. And I speak to the [1897] Organic Act and this book here [The Principal Laws Relating to the Establishment and Administration of the National Forests and to Other Forest Service Activities] is what I had when I worked for the Forest Service in San Francisco, in the Regional Office. I was in timber management and also fiscal control.
What we need to be emphasizing is, again, the Organic Act. What it spells out is communities, roads, schools, jobs, payroll -- the lands are there to support the people. And these principles also apply to private lands, state lands, and even can apply to tribal lands. We should be looking after the people who are living in the communities rather than to lock things up.
The Forest Service has failed in the last 20 years to manage the National Forests. We can see that on the cut-and-sold reports are diminished almost to zero. And that's about what I want to say, is emphasizing that that the forests are there to support and do well for the people, not to be put up in shrines and locked up and walked away from. So that's my basic comment.
