ABSTRACT
SUMMARY. The implementation of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in the United States is strongly influenced by U.S. forest products markets and the numerous management decisions made by individual landowners and managers. These decisions are influenced by a mix of market incentives and regulatory actions reducing predictability in as-
sessing progress toward SFM and causing angst for some proponents of SFM because prices might provide insufficient incentive for what they believe are necessary forest practices. At the same time, conservation proponents are advocating forest management regimes that lead to reduced financial returns. These dual concerns are leading to new alli ances and new approaches for forest-based conservation and manage ment. doi: 10.1300/J091 v24n01_01 [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website: <https://www. HaworthPress.com>.]
KEYWORDS. Forest management, conservation, sustainability
The U.S. forestland base is 298.3 million ha (737 million acres) that includes 197.9 million ha (489 million acres) of timberland defined by criteria of productivity and availability for harvest (see Smith et al., 2001 for a detailed description of the U.S. timber resource). The largest share of timberland (73%) is privately owned by a variety of owners in cluding forest industry, farmers, and numerous private individuals.
