We are concerned about the regulation's treatment of sustainability. The Society of American Foresters holds sustainability of forest resources as a core value.
Sustainability means meeting environmental, economic and community aspirations simultaneously.
It requires the development and protection of natural resources at a rate, and in a manner, that enables people to meet their needs while providing future generations with the means to do the same. The Forest Service's planning regulations place ecological values above social and economic values of sustainability. This is inherently unsustainable, inconsistent with the profession's concepts of sustainability, and inconsistent with internationally agreed upon principles of sustainability. However, our largest concern with the regulatory framework is its species diversity requirements. If these regulations are not changed, protection of native plant, animal, and fish species could become the dominant, if not the exclusive, purpose for the 191 million acres of the National Forest System.