The National Forest Service is chartered to care for federally owned forests in a way that will provide a steady supply of trees for wood products. The words pristene, wild, natural, scenic and biodiversity are not in their mission statement.
Being a federal job, they are suject to the pressures of politics which is always make someone happy right NOW. Often at the expense of the land their supposed to keep productive for the future.
There are many people, especially in the west where large portions of land are federally held, that would like to see much of this federal land move into the tax base.
Part of the global economy is not having to conserve what can be bought elsewhere.
Federal money budgeted for schools is huge. Every school district in the nation gets some. Of course it's usually not enough to cover the federally mandated programs the districts are required to satisfy, but that's another topic.
