What is a forest for?

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In New Hampshire, the most beloved swath of public land is the White Mountain National Forest. People interact with it as they would a national park – hiking, swimming, camping, and more. But a national forest is NOT a national park. The difference comes down to a fundamental concept: the “multiple-use” land mandate. In the WMNF, you’ll find parts of the forest preserved for wildlife conservation, recreation, climate resilience, and, most controversially, logging. This episode looks at one patch of forest from three different perspectives: a conservationist who would like to see cutting halted in the WMNF, loggers who would like to see it ramped up, and the US Forest Service that has to somehow appease them both. Featuring Zack Porter, Jeremy Turner, Charlie Niebling, Jasen Stock, Jim Innes, and Luke Sawyer. SUPPORT To share questions and feedback with Outside/In, call the show’s hotline and leave us a voicemail. The number is 1-844-GO-OTTER. No question is too serious or too silly. Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook. LINKS Zack Porter references this study that shows the potential carbon storage in Eastern forests by 2100. Conservation groups and logging advocates filed an amicus brief together against Standing Tree’s lawsuits. In 2024, the Southern Environmental Law Center sued the Forest Service over its timber targets. NHPR has been covering the legal fight in the White Mountain National Forest over the past year. You can read some of our previous coverage here and here. CREDITS Produced by Kate Dario. Full credits and transcript available on outsideinradio.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of Outside In is made possible in part by Antioch University,
0:03.6	empowering adult learners for career advancement and building a more just society,
0:06.9	with more than 175 programs rooted in social justice,
0:10.6	including online and low residency masters, doctoral, and certificate programs in environmental studies.
0:15.8	Learn more at antioch.edu. etu. Outside in producer Kate Dario has been out in the woods a lot lately.
0:34.5	How far from where you're thinking of kind of our goal for scope place are we just...
0:40.1	Because I have some follow up questions.
0:41.9	I mean, maybe quarter, we're getting pretty close.
0:44.6	That was Kate with conservationist Zach Porter.
0:47.7	It was fall, and they were hiking in New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest.
0:52.4	We're here at the Great Gulf Trailhead on the edge of the presidential range, one of the most
0:59.0	iconic, magnificent landscapes in the whole of the eastern U.S.
1:04.2	At the trailhead, the Forest Service had posted instructions for hikers.
1:08.8	Leave no trace, stay on the trails, carry in, carry out.
1:13.7	Zach agrees with this advice. But what I see when I look at the sign are all of the
1:19.3	ironies in what we see here. Because while the Forest Service is telling people to leave no trace, they're also planning
1:30.8	to allow the timber industry to cut down thousands of trees right near this spot.
1:35.9	When I read a sign like this and I see these admonitions to be careful out there, be respectful,
1:44.0	it just doesn't sit well with me, knowing what the Forest Service is planning to do in this really special place.
1:55.4	I recently moved to New Hampshire from out west, where logging is a fact of life.
2:00.7	But here, in the White Mountains, with its ski areas, popular hiking trails, only three hours from Boston,
2:07.9	many people treat it more like a national park.
	...

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