The probability of successful recovery for many keystone endangered spe-
cies would not be "high." Just as alarming, forests on the east side of the
Cascade Mountains (outside spotted owl and marbled murrelet habitat),
which have suffered from the same overcutting problems as the west side
forests, would experience accelerated logging to make up for some of the
shortfall from the west side.

The Clinton administration then played hardball with environmental
leaders to get them to support this plan. Hardball included threats to support
legislation that would enact the plan and shield it and other timber sales in
the Northwest from judicial review. Since this would throw environmental-
ists out of court and off the playing field, many of them compromised.
Others rebelled. ⁶⁷ Interestingly, the timber industry seemed even more dis-
appointed with Option Nine than the environmentalists. Over time, political
allies of the industry may succeed in further weakening environmental pro-
tection laws and the environmentalists' bargaining position. Only time will
tell. Despite some encouraging signs of pending reform, such as ecosystem
management and the appointment of a wildlife biologist as chief, it is not yet
clear whether the agency over the long term will take the path of reform or
the path of retrenchment.

On the centennial anniversary of the national forests ( 1991), the Forest
Service was intensively reevaluating itself and its mission, trying painfully
to contend with internal revolt, demands for change from progressive sec-
tors of the forestry profession, pressure from lumbermen who warned of
imminent economic collapse in the industry without accelerated harvesting
on the national forests, and increasingly radical grass-roots environmental
opposition to its management activities (Earth First! road blockades, tree-
sitting, and other forms of civil disobedience). Congress, too, had a half
dozen bills pending in 1991 designed to restructure national forest policy
and delimit Forest Service management discretion. ⁶⁸ Unlike other periods of
crisis, however, the two factors that previously sustained intensive manage-
ment solutions to national forest conflicts -- perceptions of abundance and
public faith in technologically enhanced forest production -- had all but
disappeared. Whether or not a false optimism promoting maximum and
harmonious development of all resources can again overcome conflicts
seems doubtful.

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