FOREST SERVICE BUDGET REQUESTS AND APPROPRIATIONS - WHAT DO ANALYSES OF TRENDS REVEAL

In spite of recent arguments that significant changes are occurring in the United States Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, to date little empirical evidence exists demonstrating that this is indeed th e case and whether these presumed changes are impacting upon substanti ve policy outcomes. Most of the current evidence available is from stu dies that have inferred change by measuring attitudinal change in Fore st Service employees. None to date has examined changes in quantitativ e indicators of agency policy efforts or outcomes. In this article, we analyze trends in the budget requests of the Forest Service, the Unit ed Stares Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Office of Manageme nt and Budget (OMB), and appropriations made by Congress, to ascertain whether priorities of these actors concerning the commodity and non-c ommodity programs of the National Forests have changed since the passa ge of the National Forest Management Act. The data reveal shifting pri orities for the Forest Service, USDA, and OMB. However, although the s hifts have been greater for the Forest Service than for the other two agencies, they have been significantly less than the shifts in congres sional appropriations. This fact suggests that Congress is changing it s view of how the Forest Service should manage its lands more quickly than the Forest Service is changing itself, and that, as some have arg ued, Congress has been an important external agent of change concernin g the agency and its policies.