Abstract

The mandate of the Forest Service is to achieve quality land management under the sustainable multiple-use management concept to meet the diverse needs of people. Recently, the Forest Service has developed an ecosystem management approach to achieving this mission, meaning that “an ecological approach will be used to achieve the multiple-use management of the National Forests and Grasslands. It means that we must blend the needs of people and environmental values in such a way that the National Forests and Grasslands represent diverse, healthy, productive, and sustainable ecosystems” (F. Dale Robertson, 12th Chief of the Forest Service).

The framework for managing resources, including mineral and energy resources, on National Forest System lands emanates from various laws and regulations that sometimes seem contradictory. The Forest Service Manual provides the agency with additional direction for managing resources. The Forest Service Minerals Program Policy, issued in 1995 by Jack Ward Thomas, 13th Chief of the Forest Service, summarizes the approach the Forest Service takes to managing mineral resources: “The Federal Government’s policy for minerals resource management is expressed in the Mining and Minerals Policy Act of 1970, ‘foster and encourage private enterprise in the development of economically sound and stable industries, and in the orderly and economic development of domestic resources to help assure satisfaction of industrial, security, and environmental needs.’ Within this context, the national forests and grasslands have an essential role in contributing to an adequate and stable supply of mineral and energy resources while continuing to sustain the land’s productivity for other uses and its capability to support biodiversity goals” (Preamble to Forest Service Minerals Program Policy, August 3, 1995).