Abstract

As J understand it, a book Preface is where the author explains to the reader how the book in hand came about, something of the personal reasons for having inflicted such extended duress on one's self to complete the manllscript. and other items that are fit to say but do not fit in the text. This book had its conceptual beginnings in the 1970's wit h my 'studies in scientific synthesis at the North Central Forest Experiment Station, St. Paul, Minnesota. Ours is, clearly, the age of analysis. But, I felt, we must soon begin frameworks for synthesis, or a synthesis would never be possible. In short, I hoped to develop 'interaction' as an integrative principle in forestry. As work progressed on the manuscript, other subthemes developed. First, there was the vague feeling on my part that the forestry profession was losing ground in the contest to see who should manage the forests of the world. This was happening not because foresters do not know how to manage forests in a reasonable manner, but because the public seemed to be loosing faith in the judgement of foresters as professional, responsible, wise land managers. Several well-known incidents of poor judgement in timber harvesting methods on national forests in the United States did little to help the forester's image.