Principle - Yield and Quality of Forest Goods are Sustainable

Criterion- Policy, planning and institutional framework are conducive to sustainable forest management.

Indicator – There is a permanent forest estate (PFS), adequately protected by law, which is the basis for sustainable management, including both protection and production forest.

Box B: Definition:

The idea that public land ownership, particularly federal forest land ownership, is needed to conserve the land and its resources and ensure its proper management.

Box D: Applicability to Different Landowners. Explain any differences:

The concept of permanent forest estate is applicable to public lands in the North American test area.

National Forest History:

1891 – Forest Reserve Act. Authorized the creation of forest reserves to be partitioned out of public forested lands.

1897 - The Forest Management Act of 1897 (often referred to as the Organic Administration Act) directed that reserves were to be administered to improve and protect these reservations, aid in water flow, and assist in furnishing timber.

1905 –Forest Service transferred from Dept. of the Interior to Dept. of Agriculture.

1916 - The creation of the National Park Service in 1916 provided lead responsibility for outdoor recreation.

1960 – Multiple-Use, Sustained Yield Act. This Act established the multiple-use and sustained yield policies for forest management.

1964 - The Wilderness Act of 1964 created a statutory wilderness system out of 9.1 million acres.

1976 – National Forest Management Act provided standards for forest planning.

1978 – Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act, requires preparation of strategic plans for all Forest Service activities every 5 years.

Idaho State endowment lands were reserved as permanent lands to be managed consistent with investment goals for State reserve funds. (Idaho Code 57-723A)

Box E: Overlap:

N/A

Box I: Underlying Concepts:

The use of the forest resource depends on the way in which it is controlled. The nature of this control, and in particular the form of ownership, provides the essential link between the forest resource and its use. The nature of ownership and tenure influences the objectives of use of the forest resource and the nature of its management.

The three most common controls (Mather 1990) on management include:

1. Forest Utilization
2. Forest Protection
3. Environmental Protection

Box J: Relevance to Sustainable/Unsustainable Management

The Multiple-Use and Sustained Yield Act of 1960 prescribes multiple use as the general management policy for national forests. Section 4 of the Act defines use as follows:

"multiple-use" means: i) the management of all the various renewable surface resources (Robinson 1975) of the forests so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the needs of the American people; ii) making the most judicious use of the land for some or all of these resources or related services over areas large enough to provide sufficient latitude for periodic adjustments in use to conform to changing needs and conditions; iii) that some land will be used for less than all the resources; and iv) harmonious and coordinated management of the various resources, each with the other, without impairment of the productivity of the land, with consideration being given to the relative values of the various resources, and not necessarily the combination of uses that will give the greatest dollar return or the greatest unit output."

Multiple-use has come to mean an emphasis on balanced use: all uses will be attentively considered and an effort made to reach some kind of optimal output of all major uses.

Multiple Use: The greatest good for the greatest number; a balanced allocation of timber, water, range, recreation, wildlife, and other resources found in the national forests.

The Multiple-use – Sustained Yield Act signed in 1960 organized the five major uses (Steen 1976) of the national forests; timber, wildlife, range, water, and outdoor recreation under one law which became the basic charter for the administration of the national forests.

Box K: Measurement Methods:

A review of applicable land areas and the laws designating the use of such lands for the study area.

Box L: Data Required:

Maps and documents that depict land use categories, management, and Forest land legislation.

Box M: Data Used for the North American Test:

USFS Forest Planning documents and resource land use maps.

Box N: Example Results:.

N/A

Box O: Assessing the Practicality:

This indicator can easily be tracked over time by reviewing natural resource legislative changes and USFS revision plan amendments.

Box P: Assessing the Information Value:

N/A

Box Q: Overall assessment:

Rejected; combined with E11,R8, and R9.

Weakness: Sustainability is not guaranteed by law. Interpretation of law is dynamic.

Box R: Did you rewrite or revise to a new indicator. If so what?

Combined with E11, R8, and R9.

Box S: References:

• G.O. Robinson, 1975, The Forest Service, A Study In Public Land Management, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 337 p.
• H.K. Steen, 1976, The U.S. Forest Service: A History , University of Washington Press, 356 p.
• A. S. Mather, 1990, Global Forest Resource Timber Press, 341p.