In a landmark decision¹ that may have far-reaching effects on the U.S. Forest Service's management of the nation's timber resources, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court ruling that the Organic Act of 1897² bans clearcutting on federally owned land in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. Conservationists have strenuously objected to the use of this harvesting technique, which consists of felling all trees within a designated area regardless of size, age, or health, in national forests. They contend that it unnecessarily wastes growing trees, defaces the landscape, and creates serious erosion problems. Lumber companies, on the other hand, argue that clearcutting is the most efficient way to meet the nation's timber needs.³

In December 1973, a number of environmental groups, including the West Virginia Division of the Izaak Walton League, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, won a federal district dcourt injunction barring the Forest Service from allowing the cutting of trees within the Monongahela other than those that are "dead, matured, or large growth" and that have been individually marked prior to harvesting.⁴ The Service was also told not to permit the leaving of unmarketable felled timber at the harvesting site, and to revise its regulations in accordance with the court's opinion.