Legislative Regulation of Private Forestry Practices-- 
National Trends With a Focus on the South 
William C. Siegel and Terry K. Haines (1) 
Should government formally regulate private 
forestry practices in the United States? This ques- 
tion has been debated by foresters and policymak- 
ers for more than half a century. Public regulation of 
private forest lands was first introduced in North 
America in the early 17th century when the Plym- 
outh Colony passed a statute that prohibited the 
cutting of trees without government permission 
(Huffman 1978). Numerous other forestry regulatory 
laws were later passed in the colonies (Kawashima 
and Tone 1983). Once the United States became an 
independent Nation, however, forestry policies re- 
verted almost exclusively to exploitation (Scheiber 
1983). This situation eventually led to a new drive for 
forest conservation in the late 19th and early 20th 
centuries. 
Extensive discussion of Federal regulation of 
private forestry in the United States began about 
1917 and continued through the mid-1920's (Siegel 
and Cubbage 1985). Nearly every issue of the Jour- 
nal of Forestry during this period contains some 
mention of the failure of private owners to practice 
good forest management, and of alternative meth- 
ods for improving their stewardship (Salazar 1985). 
All regulatory bills introduced in Congress, howev- 
er, failed. 
The focus on Federal regulation arose again in 
the late 1930's, when Congress established a joint 
committee to examine forestry issues. The commit- 
tee issued its report in 1941, calling for combined 
Federal-State regulation of private forestry. Fearing 
that Federal legislation would be passed if they 
failed to act, 5 States in the West and 10 in the East 
enacted regulatory laws between 1937 and 1949 
(Cubbage and Ellefson 1980). Most of these 
statutes addressed regeneration after harvest, usu- 
ally by mandating the leaving of seed trees. 
The call for further regulation faded during the 
1950's and 1960's. Only one additional State forest 
practice act was passed during those two decades. 
(1) William Siegel and Terry Haines are project leader and 
forester, respectively, in forest resource law and eco- 
nomics, Southern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest 
Service, New Orleans, LA. 
The Legal Basis of Regulation 
A solid legal basis has been established for 
regulating forestry practices on private lands in the 
United States. The courts have consistently ruled 
that such statutes are constitutional if they do not 
discriminate among owners and are equally appli- 
cable to all. It is a well-established American legal 
principle, stemming from the English Common Law, 
that society can--through its police power--restrict, 
for the public good, the freedom with which owners 
may use their land and its resources (Roberts 1974, 
Bosselman and others 1973). 
However, the police power exercised by the 
State for this purpose should not be confused with 
eminent domain. Under the doctrine of eminent do- 
main, private property is taken for a public purpose 
and compensation paid. Such public taking without 
compensation is clearly prohibited by the 5th 
Amendment to the United States Constitution and 
the various State constitutions (Roberts 1974). Al- 
though regulation of forest properties by use of po- 
lice power may decrease their value or earning po- 
tential, the property is not physically taken, nor is 
compensation paid. Such action is clearly legal. 
Recent Regulatory Trends 
Outside the South 
Forestry practices in States outside the South 
are regulated both directly and indirectly by a wide 
range of interacting Federal, State, and local laws. 
Some specifically address control of forestry opera- 
tions; others may be interpreted to apply in particu- 
lar situations. Most of this legislation was passed 
during the 1970's and 1980's. National attention in 
recent years has largely focused on the strict new 
State statutes passed in the West--primarily those of 
California, Washington, and Oregon. Alaska, Idaho, 
and Nevada also have comprehensive practice laws 
recently enacted or revised. The environmental 
movement of the 1960's and 1970's was a major 
force in the passage of this legislation in the West. 
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