ABSTRACT
Federal land management and, more particularly, the Investment procedures for federal lands have been widely and repeatedly criticized in the past by economists, public administrators, political scientists, and others for their shortcomings, especially for the lack of a capital account. Even if a genuine, wholehearted effort was made to apply economic criteria to federal forest investment, there would exist a number of difficult conceptual and management problems. A basic requirement for application of economic criteria to investment problems on federal forests is the establishment of a fully adequate capital account. One aspect of differentiation of investment according to site productivity is to avoid making uneconomic or unwise investments if conditions are such that reasonable returns are most unlikely. There are a number of obstacles to the achievement of an economically optimum level of investment on public forests, including spatial and functional differentiation of that investment.
