The U.S. Forest Service celebrates its centennial in 2005. With a new preface by the author, this edition of Harold K. Steen's classic history (originally published in 1976) provides a broad perspective on the Service's administrative and policy controversies and successes. Steen updates the book with discussions of a number of recent concerns, among them the spotted owl issue; wilderness and roadless areas; new research on habitat, biodiversity, and fire prevention; below-cost timber sales; and workplace diversity in a male-oriented field.

The U.S. Forest Service celebrates its centennial in 2005. With a new preface by the author, this edition of Harold K. Steen's classic history (originally published in 1976) provides a broad perspective on the Service's administrative and policy controversies and successes. Steen updates the book with discussions of a number of recent concerns, among them the spotted owl issue; wilderness and roadless areas; new research on habitat, biodiversity, and fire prevention; below-cost timber sales; and workplace diversity in a male-oriented field.

In excerpts from a series of interviews, seven former Forest Service chiefs look back at the issues they faced throughout their 50 collective years of service and provide a glimpse into the inner workings of America's oldest and largest federal land-management agency. At times caught unaware by the forces of change, at times prescient, by turns humble and defiant, yet always candid, the chiefs endured a sea-change of increasing strife marked by vocabulary that still clangs with contentionwilderness, clearcutting, ecosystem management, environmentalism, timber salvage. Reflecting on their...