Rothbard explains the problem in For a New Liberty.
The issue is all the “federal land” that gives leases to people to cut the trees.
Thus they are incentivized to deforest as quickly as possible to get the most product off their lease.
They have no concern for regrowth or conservation because the land is not private property.
If it was private, then the owner would be incentivized to maintain a healthy forest long term to maintain the value of the land.
I will have to find this section of the book and check it out.
Creation of the USFS and the national forest system was in response to real and present environmental threats. It's the best solution humans had at the time, but it fell short/is falling short of what types of forestry American land can host.
There's an ok book called Forests For the People that talks about the creation of the Eastern national forests. These are different from the large Western forests due to when/how the feds decided to create them. Interesting history.
