Economics of National Forest Management

The n a t i o n a l f o r e s t s a r e a s p e c i a l k in d o f b u s in e s s e n t e r p r i s e . F i r s t o f a l l , th e y a re p u b l i c l y , n o t p r i v a t e l y , owned and m anaged. T here a r e , o f c o u r s e , many o th e r p u b l i c b u s in e s s e n t e r p r i s e s — TVA, th e B ureau o f Land M anagem ent, and o t h e r s , w h ich a l s o p ro d u c e l a r g e am ounts o f a n n u a l re v e n u e . T here a r e many s p e c i a l f e a t u r e s o f p u b l i c b u s i n e s s , w h e re in su c h e n t e r p r i s e s d i f f e r from p r i v a t e o n e s . S e c o n d ly , r e l a t e d to b u t d i s t i n c t from th e f o r e ­ g o in g , i s th e f a c t t h a t p r o f i tm a k in g i s n o t t h e p r im a ry m o tiv e in th e m anage­ m ent o f th e n a t i o n a l f o r e s t s . In f a c t , th ro u g h o u t t h e i r h i s t o r y th e econom ics o f n a t i o n a l f o r e s t m anagem ent h av e l a r g e l y b een i g n o r e d , and s t i l l a r e — by th e p u b l i c , th e C o n g re s s , th e E x e c u tiv e B ra n c h , and th e F o r e s t S e r v ic e . One p u rp o se o f t h i s s e c t i o n i s to fo c u s p u b l i c a t t e n t i o n on th o s e ig n o re d econom ics Some p e o p le m ig h t th in k t h a t one d i s t i n g u i s h i n g c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f n a t i o n a l f o r e s t s , as b u s in e s s e n t e r p r i s e s , i s t h a t so much o f t h e i r o u tp u t i s g iv e n away W ild e rn e s s u s e , r e c r e a t i o n , w i l d l i f e , w a te r s h e d , and o th e r u s e s pay l i t t l e o r n o th in g f o r t h e i r v a lu e d goods and s e r v i c e s from th e n a t i o n a l f o r e s t s . But t h i s f a c t do es n o t r e a l l y d i s t i n g u i s h n a t i o n a l f o r e s t s from m ost o th e r f o r e s t s . The f o r e s t s owned by th e f o r e s t i n d u s t r y and th o s e owned by p r i v a t e i n d i v id u a l s a l s o p ro v id e m o st o f th e s e s e r v i c e s , e x c e p t r e s e r v e d w i ld e r n e s s a r e a s , some­ t im e s to an e x t e n t p e r a c r e a lm o s t as g r e a t as f o r th e n a t i o n a l f o r e s t s , and a r e a l s o f r e e o r n e a r l y s o f o r t h e s e u s e s . The p ro b lem o f th e u n r e a l i z e d v a lu e s from f o r e s t m anagem ent i s by no m eans c o n f in e d to th e p u b l i c l y owned f o r e s t s .