A unit of Lasting Forests evolving since March 30, 1999
A Total Forest Management Plan and Wildland Management Decision Support System
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The Highest and Best Use Concept

The highest and best use concept has been used for many years and is frequently used by realtors as they discuss buying and selling land. The phrase tends to simplify very complex issues. Perhaps the highest use for a stick of wood would be for burning to provide the light for the surgeon's knife. Perhaps it is for the tongue depressor used by a doctor to diagnose and save the life of an important person... or a new-born. Ecologist understand the connectedness of things. Historians know the winding events that form chains of sequences leading to notable events. Few will doubt the difficulty of determining what is the highest use of anything. And as for "best" , even sophomores in philosophy or even advanced grammar know it can only have meaning when compared to something.

While we understand the intent of the "highest and best use" phrase of the FSC Standards, we believe that it can be misleading and over simplifying. We tend to operate on the basis that every species of wood is different and that within species, major differences exist caused by genetics, age, water available, growth rate, and insects and disease. Thus every "stick " of wood or every log is unique and the costs of producing it ... from seedling progeny to mill site (or site of final processing) ... can be estimated. Thus, after reasonable discounting procedures that may include intergenerational equity, a current value can also be estimated. Thus a benefit-to-cost ratio, even grossly precise, can be estimated and its bounds estimated. Reasonable people will try to secure a very high benefit to cost ratio.

It may be that stems must be cut and "let lay" in the forest to begin rebuilding soil conditions, prevent erosion, improves watershed conditions, and develop a viable tree support layer of the forest and its fauna and associated flora. The wood used in such a manner may not seem to be "used" to some people. Some will find it difficult to grasp the long period that must be used in estimating present discounted values of such wood to future forests. At least providing the current market values equivalent to the mineral composition of the wood left in the forest need to be used in evaluating whether such use of large stems is justified.

It is clear that we hold that all of the services and uses of wood need to be considered in meeting the FSC standards, not just those currently listed or those evident among currently willing buyers. Wood, in addition to use in veneer, panels, paper pulp, and lumber, has uses in soil building, soil erosion prevention, camp firewood, and faunal nesting. Trying to determine highest and best use is very difficult. We believe that it can be simplified somewhat for the owner by pondering how wood available (with well-estimated costs of production (including land value)) can be used to meet the stated and weighted set of objectives of the owner(s). Most owners have social as well as personal objectives and these can often be synthesized or indexed as sustained profits, within bounds, over a long planning period (at least 150 years).

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This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision July 20, 2001.