An article, long ago in this paper (in 1989)… quotes a forester from the then Unaka Ranger District stating: “One of the most important parts of the Forest Service’s management plan revolves around the cutting and development of massive amounts of timber.” But the American people were asserting broader values of the public forests, as Theodore Roosevelt had done in founding them. He insisted on water supply as being their first and most important use, since “forest protection alone can maintain the stream flow necessary for irrigation in the West and prevent floods destructive to agriculture and manufactures in the East.” Preservation of timber supply a “second reason,” Roosevelt held preservation of our biological heritage to be among their other, essential purposes.