The delegation of law-making authority to the United States Forest Service: Implications in the struggle for national forest management

This paper presents a descriptive assessment of the presence of legislative delegation by the United States Congress to the United States Forest Service. The central tenet is an analysis of both the presence, and the impacts, delegation has had on the ability of the Forest Service to identify and accomplish a distinct agency mission.; The presence or absence of delegation by the United States Congress was established by employing formulae developed by Epstein and O'Halloran (1999). The formulae produce a relative means for measuring the extent to which statutes exhibit delegation, constraints, and discretion to an executive agency. The Organic Administration Act (1897, and as amended), the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act (1960), the National Forest Management Act (1976), and the National Forest Timber Reform Act of 1975 (S.2926), were analyzed, all five exhibiting varying degrees of delegation, with the Organic Administration Act and the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act exhibiting the most delegation and affording the Forest Service the highest degree of discretion.; The paper presents a description of the conflict intensive environment in which the Forest Service manages, and how delegation is both a cause and a result of this conflict. Specific problems related to conflict are discussed, including litigation, administrative appeals, and the nature of national forest outputs. The impact of delegation on two other Forest Service facets is also addressed: the budget process and the use of administrative regulations. Delegation appears to exacerbate the already complex budget process and contributes to the difficulty in matching agency funding to the agency missions. The administrative regulations too are subject to delegation, illustrated with examples of the current problems associated with the roadless initiative and the NFMA planning regulations.; The paper concludes by suggesting that imprecise management direction from the Congress has created or facilitated the current Forest Service management crisis. The suggested remedies focus upon revising Congressional incentives to delegate, and the formation of a new Public Land Law Review Commission to address these specific concerns.