National Forests

The fees timber companies pay to cut trees in national forests are supposed to help the Forest Service manage the nation's vast network of public forests and logging roads. But growing concern over the loss of forest habitat and its impact on endangered species, water quality and recreational usage has raised questions about the timber-sales program, which now costs taxpayers more than it collects. The new chief of the Forest Service, Michael P. Dombeck, wants to shift the agency's priorities away from logging and toward conservation and recreation. Timber interests blame Forest Service mismanagement for the sales program's shortfalls and, along with their allies in Congress, are fighting Dombeck's initiative.