Based on research and analysis by Carla Harper, West 65, Inc.

Excerpt from the summary: The renewed interest in wood as an energy source, and the new interest in valuing ecosystem services, presents an opportunity to re-awaken the American public's understanding that the nation's forests are a strategic national resource. Some percentage of the landscape will, and should, be set aside for passive management to protect sensitive areas, ecological reserves, and wilderness areas. On the other hand, it is clear that active forest management must be practiced on most of the nation's forest lands, if we are going to provide the range of habitats needed by the full spectrum of forest species, meet fiber needs, decrease dependency on foreign fuel supplies, reduce impacts of insect and disease, and decrease risk of catastrophic wildfire.