Conservationists have been replaced by environmentalists. Professional foresters are challenging the accountants. Economists are challenging the politicians. And Forest Service professionals are trying to regain control over the land they hold in custody. From Congressional micromanagement.
Politicians pick up whatever ideas are around when they are finally forced to solve a problem.
The most palatable, defensible new idea for forest management around today is Jerry Franklin's New Forestry. It is being embraced in one form or another, by all the groups seeking the middle ground into his battle for public opinion. Those on the extremes are taking shots at it. Professional foresters, long unhappy with taking a back seat to the accountants embraced New Forestry by making Franklin the centerfold in the December 1990 issue of American Forests Magazine. The accountants, politically naive, and realizing they have overdone it, now pay homage to Franklin but send worried memos about the bottom line to their boards and bosses.