The 1897 Organic Act

Wayne Knauf, a former U.S. Forest Service timber and fiscal management official, warns that forest policy has drifted far from its foundational mandate. The 1897 Organic Act established National Forests to support the people living near them—providing communities, roads, schools, jobs, and payroll—principles Knauf argues should also guide the management of private, state, and tribal lands. With cut-and-sold reports now diminished nearly to zero, he contends the Forest Service has failed in its core mission over the past 20 years, reducing forests to untouched shrines rather than working landscapes that serve rural communities.