Editing United States Forest Service (section)

== Controversies ==
The history of the Forest Service has been fraught with controversy, as various interests and national values have grappled with the appropriate management of the many resources within the forests.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=M.A. |last=Bennett |first=Cathy |year=2003 |title=The U.S. Forest Service: Business as usual |url=https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/583 |department=History |publisher=University of the Pacific |place=Stockton, California |page=172}}</ref> These values and resources include [[grazing]], [[Lumber|timber]], [[mining]], [[recreation]], wildlife habitat, and [[wilderness]]. Because of continuing development elsewhere, the large size of National Forests have made them ''de facto'' wildlife reserves for a number of rare and common species. In recent decades, the importance of mature forest for the [[spotted owl]] and a number of other species led to great changes in timber harvest levels.<ref>[https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/cjel13&div=20 Colum. J. Envtl. L. 299 (1987-1988) Reforming the Forest Service]</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43311378|title=Reforming National-Forest Policy|author=Anderson, H. Michael|year=1993|journal=Issues in Science and Technology|volume=10|issue=2|pages=40–47|jstor=43311378}}</ref>

In 1910, the first Chief of the Forest Service, [[Gifford Pinchot]], was dismissed by President Taft as a result of the [[Pinchot–Ballinger controversy|Pinchot-Ballinger controversy]].

In the 1990s, the agency was [[U.S. Forest Service airtanker scandal|involved in a scandal]] when it illegally provided surplus military aircraft to private contractors for use as [[airtanker]]s in 1980s.

The policy on road building within the National Forests is another controversial issue. In 1999, President Clinton ordered a temporary moratorium on new road construction in the National Forests to "assess their ecological, economic, and social values and to evaluate long-term options for their management."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gDfxMDT8MwRydLA1cj72BTFzMTAwjQL8h2VAQAJp-nEg!!/?ss=119930&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&navid=091000000000000&pnavid=null&ttype=roadmain&cid=FSE_003853&position=RELATEDLINKS&pname=Roadless-Home |title=Roadless Area Conservation |department=Forest Service |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture}}</ref> The Bush administration replaced this {{frac|5|1|2}} years later, with a system where each state could petition the Forest Service to open forests in their territory to road building.

In 1997, the agency reported it was losing money on its timber sales.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-22-mn-56535-story.html |title=Taxpayers losing money to loggers on U.S. land, Forest Service admits |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |place=Los Angeles, California |date=22 November 1997 |access-date=2009-04-03 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

A 2017 draft report describing the legal basis which provides federal land managers a scope of decision making authority exceeding that of state fish and game departments has proven unexpectedly controversial.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/forest-service-tried-to-quash-paper-debunking-montana-wildlife-authority/article_91ef1437-4df9-5ea0-8667-728e6f63ae91.html |title=Forest Service tried to quash paper debunking Montana wildlife authority |last=Chaney |first=Rob |date=2017-09-25 |df=dmy-all |newspaper=[[Missoulian]] |place=Missoula, Montana |access-date=2017-09-25 |language=en}}</ref>{{By whom|date=October 2024}}

In 2018, the Forest Service was reprimanded by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Service had issued permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to build through parts of the George Washington and [[Monongahela National Forest]]s and a right of way across the [[Appalachian Trail]] – in violation of both the [[National Forest Management Act of 1976]] and the [[National Environmental Policy Act]].<ref name="NPR-LWam-121418">{{cite news |last1=Wamsley |first1=Laurel |title=Quoting 'The Lorax', court pulls permit for pipeline crossing Appalachian Trail |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/12/14/676950106/quoting-the-lorax-court-pulls-permit-for-pipeline-crossing-appalachian-trail |access-date=15 December 2018 |agency=NPR |date=14 Dec 2018}}</ref>

In 2020, [[Melody Starya Mobley]], the first black female forester hired by the Forest Service, claimed she had been sexually assaulted by a colleague in the late 70s, citing misogyny and racism within the institution as reasons why she did not speak up at the time. She also stated that though there was a witness present, her assault was largely ignored when she disclosed it to the agency and the perpetrator was never punished.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 June 2020|author-first1=Melody S. |author-last1=Mobley|title=A Black Woman Who Tried To Survive In The Dark, White Forest |url=https://mountainjournal.org/a-woman-recalls-her-nightmare-with-the-united-states-forests-service |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=Mountain Journal}}</ref>

A wave of mass layoffs by the [[Second presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]] in early 2025—following shortly after the extreme [[January 2025 Southern California wildfires|Southern California wildfires of January]]—failed to account for the need to prepare workers for the fire season ahead; in dismissing probationary employees, not only did the administration disregard the fact that many affected staff actually had valuable years of experience with the agency (and were simply in current positions new to them), it severely weakened the efficiency of seasonal workflows necessary to mitigate the destructive potential of upcoming wildfires.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bellisle |first=Martha & Claire Rush |date=February 22, 2025 |title=Trump’s layoffs of thousands of Forest Service employees will mean more destructive wildfires, say fired workers |url=https://fortune.com/2025/02/22/trump-layoffs-thousands-forest-service-employees-more-destructive-wildfires/ |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=Fortune |language=en}}</ref>