The safety of our forests and the prosperity of our people - Has Gifford Pinchot's regulatory vision been realized?

Government regulation of private forest practices has a rich history of public and professional conflict. Beginning in the 1920s, Gifford Pinchot took up the cause of federal regulation. Today, regulatory programs are administered at all levels of government, but it is primarily the states that oversee forest practices on nearly 40 percent of the nation's private forestland. The culture of regulation presumes certainty about forest practices, makes demands of landowners and harvesters, and involves administrative processes that are legalistic. Future regulatory programs are likely to offer a better balance between imposed versus personal responsibility for forest practices, provide for greater empathy for private landowners and harvesters, and engage an ever-growing number of disciplinary experts in forest practice regulation.