National Forest Management Act (1976)

The National Forest Management Act (NFMA), passed in 1976, is the law that established the guidelines for the management of national forests. The act replaced the Organic Act of 1897, which had supplied such guidelines for the previous seventy-nine years. The impetus for this new bill was a court case related to clear-cutting on the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. Such clear-cutting had begun on this forest in the 1960s, and many environmental and recreation groups opposed it. When the Forest Service continued this management technique, the Izaak Walton League filed suit against the agency, claiming that clear-cutting violated the Organic Act on three counts: that only mature timber was to be harvested, that all timber cut had to be marked and designated, and that all timber cut had to be removed from the forest. The Court ruled in favor of the Izaak Walton League; clear-cutting did violate the Organic Act on each of these counts (Izaak Walton League v. Butz, (1973)). The judge issued an injunction against any cutting in West Virginia that violated the Organic Act. The Forest Service appealed, but lost, and the injunction was spread throughout the Fourth Circuit of the Court of Appeals (Izaak Walton League v. Butz (1975)). Injunctions based on similar cases were soon issued in Alaska and Texas. With timber harvesting on the national forests in chaos, the Forest Service and timber industry turned to Congress for new management authority.

Congressional action came quickly due to these court decisions. The debate centered around bills introduced by Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, more favorable to industry, and by Senator Jennings Randolph of West Virginia, supported by environmentalists. The final act was based primarily on the Humphrey bill. The act basically gave legislative approval to how the Forest Service had been managing the national forests. It granted the agency a great deal of administrative discretion to manage the forests based on the general philosophy of multiple use and sustained yield.

Five of the most contentious issues regarding national forest management were discussed in the law, but the fundamental issues were left unresolved. Clear-cutting is recognized as a legitimate management technique, and the Forest Service was given qualified discretion to determine when and how this approach would be used. Species diversity is to be considered in forest management, but the specifics are left to agency discretion. The Forest Service is directed to identify marginal lands and, based on agency discretion, to move away from timber management on these lands. Trees should be cut at a mature age when possible, but rotation age can be lessened if the agency deems it necessary. Finally, timber is to be harvested based on nondeclining even flow, which is a very conservative approach to sustained yield. Forest Service management decisions on these decisions have continued to stir debate. The NFMA also substantially amended the interdisciplinary national forest planning provisions of the Resources Planning Act of 1974.

See also Biodiversity; Deforestation; Forest decline; Environmental law; Sustainable development

[Christopher McGrory Klyza ]

RESOURCES

BOOKS

Clary, D. A. Timber and the Forest Service. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1986.

Dana, S. T., and S. K. Fairfax. Forest and Range Policy. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980.