the same general mix of uses across 
most acres. An alternative view of 
multiple use encourages managers to 
concentrate on producing specific 
outputs from only the lands most 
capable of such production. 
Current Forest Service policy hes 
between these two interpretations. It 
provides a resource balance that 
maximizes net public benefits and 
responds to public issues and 
protecting environmental quality. As 
the Assessment projections of supply 
and demand come to pass in the future, 
the particular resource balance that 
maximizes net public benefits will 
change over time. 
Options for application of multiple-use 
management to national forests include 
a resource blend narrower or broader 
than the current one of providing 
access to all resources. Under current 
policy, this choice will be influenced 
by changes in relative values among 
resources and in public preferences and 
issues that influence national forest- 
based resource planning updates or 
induce a revision of existing plans. Any 
change in the resource output mix on 
national forests would almost certainly 
lead to changes in the demands placed 
on private and other public forest lands. 
Thus, in addition to the question of 
future balance among the various 
resources on national forests, the 
relative capability and productivity of 
resource use on the national forests and 
on private and other public lands 
should be considered comparatively in 
the development of a national forest 
program. 
Should the Forest Service move to 
increased reliance on the 
marketplace for allocation of 
renewable resources from national 
forests? 
60 
One option for meeting the changing 
level and composition of resource 
demands is to institute policy 
adjustments that would place greater 
reliance on the marketplace for goods 
and services from forests and 
rangelands. For example, this would 
help ration the use of these lands for 
recreation and similar uses that now are 
often free. At issue is the loss of a 
tradition of open access to public lands 
for some resources. 
How should the relative priorities 
emphasis of Forest Service research 
programs be adjusted to respond 
effectively to the information and 
technology opportunities associated 
with increasing resource demands 
and supply opportunities? 
The Assessment identifies many 
opportunities for research in increasing 
the quantity and quality of renewable 
resource outputs. Currently, Forest 
Service research addresses a very broad 
array of topics and provides results to 
meet local and regional scientific needs 
as Well as results related to long-term, 
multifaceted natural resource issues. In 
the United States, the Forest Service is 
uniquely qualified to address a variety 
of needs because of its national scope, 
continuity, and multifunctional 
scientific staff. Any change in the 
current focus of the Forest Service 
research program would have 
significant implications for funding and 
the role of other natural resource 
research institutions. 
What should the Forest Service do in 
our long-term resource planning to 
consider the threat of global climate 
change? 
Global climate change could 
significantly affect the forests and 
range forage resources of the United 
States and have associated impacts on 
other renewable resources. The 
Department of Agriculture and the 
Forest Service are closely monitoring 
the reports of the carefully documented 
increase in levels of the “greenhouse” 
gases—chlorofluorocarbons, carbon 
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and 
others in the atmosphere. These gases 
can contribute to climatic change. 
Human activities contribute to greater 
levels of these gases in the atmosphere 
as well as natural sources. Management 
efforts such as energy efficiency, 
emission control, conservation of 
irrigation water, reforestation, 
protection of forests from fire, and 
management of national forests for 
vigorous growth of young trees can and 
do contribute to lessening the rate of 
accumulation of these gases in the 
atmosphere (fig. 56). 
Figure 56—Management of forests for vigorous 
growth of young trees contributes to lessening 
the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the 
atmosphere. 
