If forced to choose a management philosophy among the offerings of the environmentalists, the new resource economists, micromanaging by Congress and recent administrations or the Forest Service, I will side with the Forest Service. It is Forest Service field personnel who have the greatest stake in restoring public confidence in their stewardship. It is the Forest Service field staff that has the best, if limited, handle on the research that may lead to a solution. New Perspectives, properly understood, is the best vehicle for reinstating decentralized professional management of publicly owned timberlands. Research is a race between ignorance and irreversible consequences.
Scientists have a professional obligation to advocate the results of their research.
From Jerry Franklin to Jack Ward Thomas, the Forest Service has the best scientific information available. It is time the agency recognized the lifetimes of work they have invested in these people. Time will tell if they are right or wrong. Today, it is the best information on the chess board. If the Agency and Congress fail to recognize it, the courts will not.