The 1990 RPA: A Forest Service pathway through the 1990s and beyond

Excerpt

THE public is placing increasing demands on the nation's forests and rangelands—demands not only for the raw materials that provide jobs and material goods, but also for protection of environmental values. Never before has a long-term view been more necessary to put the pressures of today in context.

To determine how society's needs can best be satisfied and how opportunities can be realized requires that the Forest Service think strategically over the long-term. And that is exactly what the 1990 RPA program is designed to do.

The RPA program that Secretary of Agriculture Clayton Yeutter recommended to Congress in June maps the Forest Service's pathway through the 1990s-and beyond. It is, in the words of President George Bush, “a bold strategic plan for the conservation and wise use of the nation's national forests and grasslands, including assistance to state and private forestry and research”.

This 1990 program, the fourth in a series going back to 1975, is significantly different from previous programs. For one thing, there are far fewer numbers. The emphasis is on direction and strategy: “Here is where we want to go …