This amounts to nothing more than a subsidy for clear-cutting that runs contrary to the agency's mission of conserving our forests. When paper and timber companies have to manage their own privately held land, they suddenly look like staunch environmentalists. They have a strong incentive to maintain the stock of trees because they want to maintain the long-term value of their land. Timber companies like Weyerhaeuser and Georgia Pacific have consistently done a better job at forest conservation than the Federal Government. The uses of their land also include game preserves and camping and hiking facilities.
Private property is even better at protecting endangered species than government bureaucracies.
For example, in Zimbabwe, the government honors traditional claims to land, which also includes the right to hunt and sell elephants. Land owners have a strong incentive to protect the value of their elephants and do everything they can to protect them from poachers. They try to raise as many elephants as they can so they can profit from sponsoring safaris, and selling meat, hide, and ivory. As a result, the elephant population in Zimbabwe has increased from 30,000 to 43,000 over the last ten years. Even some government programs that could only seem to do good have had their share of negative consequences.