ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES in rocky mountain coniferous ...

Scientist, audience: "The Three-Mile Island and DC-10
accidents were crises causing the public to be more concerned
about the ineptness of 'management' than about danger to
human life."
And so it went, a disjointed dialogue with a slender thread of understandina between
members of Congress and scientists. Congress is desperately groping far technical
information to help make legislative decisions, while knowing that, in the end, the
decisions will be heavily influenced by pol itical pressures. The scientists were
offering the best information on hand, and they too knew that the decisions will be
heavily swayed by pressure tactics.
The issue of risk/benefit was summed up by John Giggons, Director of the Office of
Technology Assessment: "There are no scientific formulas to measure ri sk--only
judgement values. For example, on opposite sides of Long Island Sound are two sites
for nuclear reactors. On one side the reactor is operational, on the other the
reactor was not built--different judgement values on the same scientific information
by different communities."
LEGISLATION AND MANAGEMENT CONFLICT
However frustrating it may be for Congress to make the "best" decisions, it has not
prevented the passage of masses of environmental -related leg is1 ation directly or
indirectly related to forestry. A working group report to the President Is Interagency
Task Force on Environmental Data and Monitoring Programs (USDC 1979) states that
over 70 legislative acts have had an impact on land and natural resources. The
working group on Natural Resources and Land Use of this task force concluded that no
cohesive Federal land and natural resource pol icy exists today. Federal pol icy
among 25 agencies is highly fragmented, with diverse goals and missions.
A few of the environment-related legislative acts within the past 10 years are:
Natural Environmental Policy Act
Geothermal Steam Act
Wild Horses and Burros Act
Federal Water Pollution Control Act
Coastal Zone Management Act
Endangered Species Act
Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act
Federal Land Policy and Management Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
Clean Water Act
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act
The conflicts over the management of Federal land create problems and issues that
permeate the land and natural resource management field. One important aspect is the
multiple-use policy (enacted in 1964), which involves striking a balance .between con-
flicting or competing land uses. Whether mineral and timber needs outweigh the
nation's needs to preserve recreation and wilderness is an issue involving many
Federal agencies, and one that does not have clear policy guidance.