With a changing mission and politicized appointees, the U.S. Forest Service has faced a leadership crisi in the last decade. Employees reflect on what they think about agency leadership—where it&30146s been and where it may be headed. by Orna Izaakson

St. Helens, local counties push for a tourist road across the blast zone. by Tim McNulty

Bears, bison and sage grouse don’t define the boundaries of the greater Yellowstone ecosytem the way the Feds do. by Todd Wilkinson

The Quivera Coalition strikes a balance between ecology and economics, striving for sustainable grazing. Will it work? by Michele Taylor

• From the Publisher. Grieving for a Lost Era. by Andy Stahl
  

• Out There. The Geography of Hope. by Patricia Marshall
  

• Introduction Can recreation save the forests? Can we save the forests from recreation? by Mark Blaine

• Everyday Extremes. Steeper, deeper, bigger and faster: our toys are taking us to the edge. by Allen Best

• Hikers, Hubs and Hooves. Sharing solitude. When did getting out get crowded? by Bobbie Willis

• Empty Promise. A lot of people want recreation to be the next big thing. Why the U.S. Forest Service doesn’t care. by Rebecca Clarren

When fire managers decide to let it burn, community outcry heats up. by Ann Bond

Carhart had a vision for a different forest service. He was too young, too radical, and born too soon. by Tom Wolf

• From the Publisher. To Fee or Not To Fee. by Andy Stahl

• Inner Voice. Loving Special Places to Death: To Privatize or Not. by Dave Iverson

• Point of View. Selling the Sierra Plan. by U.S. Representative Jay Inslee

• Pulp. A Good Forest For Dying. by James Johnston

The response to Colorado’s spruce beetle epidemics has mimicked the responses to fire: stomp it out, no matter what it takes. Will cooler heads prevail? by Allen Best

Scientists try to reverse the shuffle of top predators in the deeps of Lake Tahoe. by Paul Thacker

Biscuit had barely burned before the timber vultures started circling. What’s the rush? And why is salvage logging such a contentious issue? by Jessica MacMurray Blaine

The premise seems workable: spend money on prevention and put all those wildland firefighters to work before the forest burns. The simple facts of one fire crew's boring wet year. by Gabriel Dour

• From the Publisher. Waste Not Want Not. by Andy Stahl

• Out There. Access Challenge on the Chattooga. by Geoffrey Cantrell

• Point of View. Endangered Species—Surviving the Next Thirty Years. by U.S. Representative John D. Dingell

• Pulp.“The Journals of a Forest Service Chief” by Jack Ward Thomas is reviewed by Andy Stahl, who finds Thomas’s view of environmentalists and timber industry proponents especially revealing.

Our values have changed in the ten years since President Bill Clinton's forest summit and the subsequent Northwest Forest Plan. What do we want from the forest and what do we still take from it? by Patricia Marshall

• Who Won the Spotted Owl War? Seattle Times Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental reporter William Dietrich declares a winner ten years after the Northwest Forest Plan was signed. It’s not who you think. by William Dietrich

• Who won the spotted owl war? Industry, environmental, education and government perspectives (plus a tree).
  

• The Incredible Shrinking Chainsaw. The economics of old growth have shifted. In ten years, mills have modernized and the market for big trees has nearly disappeared. by Rebecca Clarren
  

• An Idea in Search of a Definition. Nobody can agree on what old growth is. But lots of people have opinions. by Jessica MacMurray Blaine
  

• Stalking Giants. One man searches the West for the world’s biggest trees. by Tim NcNulty
  

Small ski areas have big impacts, and some are angling to get bigger. by Colleen Kaleda

A forest supervisor in southern Oregon comes up with a creative solution to reconcile mining and conservation laws. by Kera Abraham

• From the Publisher. It's Not About the Owl. by Andy Stahl

• Point of View. Declare harvest of old-growth forests off-limits and move on! by Jack Ward Thomas and Mike Dombeck