Public Administration ETDs

Publication Date

5-2-1972

Abstract

The decade of the Seventies may be regarded as the one in which the environmental movement came of age. By the end of the 1960's, it was becoming evident that the condition of our human environment was a valid issue of public concern. This awakening concern on the part of many groups in our society indicated a new awareness of irreplaceable values represented by natural beauty and wildness, and a realization that economic considerations were no longer completely overriding for our society. The most significant legislation resulting from these new public concerns was the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which made environmental protection a matter of national policy. Besides declaring a national policy for the environment, the Act required of all Federal agencies a comprehensive statement on the environmental impacts of any proposed activity that significantly affected the quality of human environment. This thesis focused attention on one Federal agency, the Forest Service, in attacking the problem of agency response to the new requirements placed on their activities by the Act. The Forest Service, as the most visible, and diversified of our public land management agencies, is in the forefront on problems regarding the environment and, as a result, is open to a greater degree of public criticism over its management practices. In determining the Forest Service's response to the requirements of the Act, this thesis concentrated on two Regions: Region One, which includes much of Montana and Idaho, and Region Three, which includes national forests in Arizona and New Mexico. Primary emphasis, in the research, was placed on interviews with Forest Service personnel at the regional, forest, and district level. Supporting evidence was gained through analysis of agency directives relative to compliance with the Act, and observations of activities at the district level. In responding to the Act, and the general pressures exerted on them by environmentalists, the Forest Service has placed primary emphasis on building a decision model based on ecological capability of the forest land to support various activities, rather than maximum quantities of resources derived from the land. Through the use of multidisciplinary planning teams, the agency should be able to bring a greater degree of environmental consideration into the full range of their activities. As an overall conclusion, the Forest Service response to the Act may be described as adaptive, rather than one of fundamental change. The extent that the Forest Service will be successful in meeting the Act's requirements through an adaptive response can be judged by two conditions: (1) the extent that District Rangers, as primary land managers, respond positively to the intent of the Act, that is, full consideration of environmental factors be accorded in the agency's decision-making process, and (2) the ability of the Forest Service bureaucracy to adapt to the rapidly changing nature of today's society and its demand for new values.

Degree Name

Public Administration

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

School of Public Administration

First Committee Member (Chair)

Albert H. Rosenthal

Second Committee Member

John Mace Hunger

Third Committee Member

Nicholas Llewellyn Henry

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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