Rethinking Dominant Use Management in the Forest-Planning Era

Abstract

Dominant use land management, which advocates specialized production for individual tracts of land, is presented as an alternative to multiple use, which is the current federal land management philosophy. Public land managers have tended to view dominant use as narrow-minded and outdated, and multiple use as central to enlightened management. The Article portrays the differences between dominant and multiple use management as reflecting the more fundamental dilemma between efficiency and equity as goals for land management. The conclusion is that the two land management strategies are more compatible that the rhetoric implies, that combining them may be more appropriate than using either one individually, and that the forest planning process provides an excellent opportunity to explore this management issue.