ABSTRACT
The federal government is the steward and in some form or other, in fulfilling its stewardship duties, the federal government must at least take into account the wishes and attitudes of all its citizens when it makes decisions about resource development. Many vast tracts of land in the United States are owned by private timber companies. Of these, some lands have been harvested once or twice and are currently managed on a sustainable yield basis. Other privately held lands, however, have not been harvested. The unusual facts surrounding the Pacific Lumber Company make it a riveting example of the extent to which we allow the exploitation of private lands. Although there might be some justification for allowing profits to private parties who “develop” the resources from public lands for a “public” benefit, the fact that the company stood to make vast sums and the public, essentially nothing, raised this particular transaction to a high level of media visibility.
