• fear to government regulations
• you need to put in the effort and risk of controlled burning
• you will make money more quickly growing other kinds of pines
• the Forest Service radically changed its recommendations
• longleaf is more complicated, takes more management and thoughtfulness
  

• concern about preserving natural areas goes back to the 19th century
• In 1929 most people simply thought that technological progress was good
• the Great Depression raised some questions--it was in part due to overproduction
• the atomic bomb and fallout from nuclear tests raised more questions
• the prosperity of the 1950s started people thinking about quality of life but environmental problems were usually seen as the cost of progress
• in the 1960s these issues become clearer (we are harming the environment and need to change that), eg. Silent Spring
• by 1970 the environment was in fashion--first Earth Day was in 1970
  
• idea caught on and grew beyond what was planned
• not a protest march (like the ones against the Vietnam war) but a teach in and celebration
• primarily a local event
• lots of people turned out--proof that public opinion had become strongly concerned about the environment
• thought something ought to be done
• by the 1980s practices were changing radically, for example at the Forest Service
• by the 1990s interest had stabilized (no longer growing)
• environmental movement split apart and declined
• today concern over global warming is leading people to focus again on action, both individual and global

• there were already lists of endangered species
• Fish and Wildlife Service would evaluate what species were in danger
• Endangered species act gave stronger protection:
• people aren't allowed to hunt them
• people are prohibited from damaging those species defined as endangered
• you can't build things even on private property that would threaten the species
• Tellico Dam and the snail darter (a small fish)
• people tend to be concerned only with charismatic megafauna
• didn't protect ecosystems but rather you might have to save the ecosystem so the animal wouldn't go extinct
• is this the best kind of law to protect the environment?  It is the kind most likely to get public support

Solving the problems of planting longleaf pine

• clearcutting and planting seeds or leaving a few seed trees, which worked with loblolly pine, had both failed with longleaf
  
• longleaf produces seed more irregularly
• the first discovery was that you could regenerate longleaf if you cut trees a year after a bumper year for longleaf seed production
• shelterwood method--harvest when natural seedlings are ready to benefit from light being let in
  
• alternative: growing seedlings in a nursery also required new techniques
• burn when a good seed crop is developing or before planting to suppress competing vegetation

But even with those problems solved, longleaf was not often planted

• landowners had been convinced by Forest Service promotion of loblolly as most profitable
• can the ecosystem be saved using public lands alone?
• longleaf is the most disease resistant pine
• trees cut for telephone poles sell for a particularly high price
• pinestraw is also profitable
  
• laws to protect the red-cockaded woodpecker might prohibit cutting