De. Booth, TIMBER DEPENDENCY AND WILDERNESS SELECTION - THE UNITED-STATES FORESTSERVICE, CONGRESS, AND THE RARE-II DECISIONS, Natural resources journal, 31(4), 1991, pp. 715-739
Historically, the preservation of wilderness in national parks and U.S
. Forest Service wilderness areas has been much more extensive in west
ern Washington than western Oregon despite the similarities of the two
areas. The central purpose of this article is to assess whether the h
igher level of economic dependency on timber in Oregon relative to Was
hington has played a role in the preservation of wilderness. Recent co
ngressional decisions on wilderness preservation have followed an exte
nsive review of roadless areas by the U.S. Forest Service and recommen
dations for allocation of such areas to wilderness. This process provi
des an opportunity to investigate the determinants of wilderness selec
tion and compare recommendations by the Forest Service with final wild
erness preservation decisions by Congress. A central conclusion of thi
s research is that Congress allocated fewer acres to wilderness in wes
tern Oregon than western Washington because Oregon has a more highly t
imber dependent economy. In addition, Congress was more sensitive than
the Forest Service to timber dependency differences between the two s
tates in its wilderness selection process as well as to the interests
of wilderness advocates. The total amount of roadless area acreage all
ocated to wilderness by Congress was greater than the amount recommend
ed by the Forest Service.