American Forest Policy: A Study of Government Administration and Economic Control

Gulick argues that American forest policy succeeded not through direct federal regulation of private cutting but through a decentralized pattern of cooperation: federal grants-in-aid, state administration, professional forestry education, and local landowner education. He rejects the 'timber famine' thesis, concluding there is no danger of a national wood shortage despite conservationist warnings. The book's broader claim is that government intervention in an economic sector can strengthen rather than suppress private enterprise, and that forestry offers tentative lessons for other areas of government economic action.

Both books appeared in 1951 as the first systematic non-official treatments of forestry policy since the 1920s. A contemporary review notes they agreed on major points—no forest famine, indigenous rather than European models, cooperation over regulation—but diverged on emphasis. Greeley, a former Forest Service chief, stressed defense against fire and believed attitudes had shifted so forests were viewed as crops. Gulick emphasized pests and diseases, reiterated Southern backwardness, and concluded American forests were still treated as inventories rather than crops. Both opposed federal regulation of private cutting, but Gulick favored strengthening state control while Greeley relied on education.

The book was published for the Institute of Public Administration, where Gulick served as president from 1921 to 1962. It distilled an 'immense review' and a large array of unpublished mimeographed studies by the Institute's staff. The research had five objectives: whether the public got what it sought from regulation, whether government action stifled private forestry, whether public action smothered technological advance, what administrative problems were created, and what new political problems arose. Gulick's judgments represented his own views 'based on all the evidence, but do not necessarily reflect the views of each of the investigators.'

Gulick's detailed analysis of supply and demand concluded there was no danger of a wood famine in the United States, despite 'scare tactics of some conservationists and professionals.' This broke with the United States Forest Service's emphasis on public standards for forest management. The conclusion was challenged both as a fact and as a test case of an expert venturing into a field with which he was not fully familiar. Gulick admitted future production was by no means assured on 56 percent of commercial forest land held in small tracts averaging only 62 acres.

Gulick identifies it as a matter of national culture: the failure to convert the American people to a sense of responsibility in land ownership. He writes that 'the American timber problem is not even in the woods. It is in the hearts of the American people.' His selection of new approaches—land use planning, zoning, public protection against fire and disease, state forest administration, and technical aid—was determined in part by their usefulness in stimulating this change of attitude. He concludes that all ownership of land carries with it trusteeship for future generations.

American Forest Policy was published in 1951 by Duell, Sloan and Pearce for the Institute of Public Administration in New York. It runs 252 pages and was priced at $3.50. The book includes a bibliography and index. It was reviewed in major journals including the American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, and The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Gulick was then serving as president of the Institute and was a former City Administrator of New York City.