msnbc.com
By Rob Lovitt
The United Nations has designated 2011 the International Year of Forests, but you don’t have to travel overseas — or even across state lines — to celebrate the event. From neighborhood woodlands to America’s national forests, the woods are where it’s at this spring.
“Trees and forests touch people’s lives every day,” said Jay Farrell, executive director of the National Association of State Foresters. “Whether it’s federal, state, private or even just urban trees, the nation couldn’t do without forests. [They’re] critical infrastructure that everyone appreciates even if they don’t understand all the benefits.”
Resources and recreation
Not surprisingly, the International Year of Forests designation is more about responsible management than outdoor recreation. The organization estimates that the world’s forests cover 31 percent of the planet’s land area, serve as home to 300 million people and help maintain the livelihoods of 1.6 billion.
But resources and recreation are not mutually exclusive; in fact, in the U.S., they’re inextricably linked under the multiple-use mandate that both defines the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and fosters so much contention over its operations. “To provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run” was how Gifford Pinchot, the agency’s first chief, put it — apparently leaving the specifics for others to figure out.
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