The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act (RPA) was passed in response to the growing tension between the timber industry and environmentalists in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. These tensions can be traced to increased controversy over and restrictions on timber harvesting on the national forests, due especially to wilderness designations and study areas and clear-cutting. These environmental restrictions, coupled with a dramatic increase in the price of timber in 1969, made Congress receptive to timber industry demands for a steadier supply of timber. Numerous bills addressing timber supply were introduced and debated in Congress, but none passed due to strong environmental pressure. A task force appointed by President Richard Nixon, the President's Panel on Timber and the Environment, delivered its recommendations in 1973, but these were geared toward dramatically increased harvests from the national...