ABSTRACT
The neoclassical economists fought against the threat to individualism represented by the foresters and radical economists influenced by German foresters and the German Historical School. The belief system of the foresters remains as powerful as ever, because the alternatives offered today are precisely those the foresters opposed years ago. The State and Private Forestry programs of the Forest Service are often seen as meeting the criterion. The assumed legitimacy of private action, and the concomitant assumption of illegitimacy unless proven otherwise of government activity dominates much of the modern debate concerning Forest Service activities. The Forest Service has discovered that its actions are viewed as legitimate by a wide variety of interest groups and their clientele as long as it displays the decision-making process accurately and clearly. The Forest Service has discovered that to the extent that the political process is unable to monitor the decision-making process in a manner that reassures interested groups, the judicial system may take over.
