Abstract

Federal forest land in the Pacific Northwest has become the focus of a regional and national debate concerning the protection of natural environmental systems and the economic and cultural vitality of local communities. At the heart of this debate are different values about forests and human relationships to forests. This study examines the degree to which the public embraces differing values about federal forests nationally and regionally. Findings suggest strong biocentric value orientations toward forests among the public in both cases. It is further suggested that the value orientations of citizens are strongly related to policy preferences for federal forest lands.