Timber Management, Traditional Forestry, and Multiple-Use Stewardship: The Case of the Intermountain Region, 1950–85

Between the end of World War II and the mid-1980s, self-scrutiny and external pressure brought about fundamental internal changes in the the U.S. Forest Service. Federal foresters faced a major challenge in adapting to changing conditions both in the national forest system and in individual regions,' During this period foresters began to divide into two definite groups of thought about timber management. The first group, the "traditionalists;' found their intellectual antecedents in the theory and practice of German and European forestry. They emphasized maximum timber production and even-aged timber stands created by c1earcutting and replanting single species.