UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- "the Greatest Good," The Highly Acclaimed Historical Documentary That Marks This Year's U.s. Forest Service Centennial, Will Be Shown Free Of Charge At 7 P.m. On Monday, April 25, In Room 100 Of The Life Sciences Building By Penn State's College Of Agricultural Sciences.

"The film is compelling because it tells stories of courage and tragedy, enormous progress and bitter conflict," says Jim Finley, professor of forest resources. "'The Greatest Good' takes the audience on a journey as compelling as it is uniquely American. National organizations, renowned historians, political activists and major corporations are brought together to share their perspectives on 100 years of conservation and the prospects for the future."

"The Greatest Good" uses rarely seen footage and photos, sweeping landscape aerial shots and dozens of interviews to tell a complex and fascinating story of the American land. Before "environmentalism" and before the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service was created in 1905 by President Theodore Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot. "They sought not only to conserve disappearing natural resources but also to maximize the social benefits from those resources," Finley says.

Pinchot's mission statement for his new agency stated, "...where conflicting interests must be reconciled, the question shall always be decided from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run." The two-hour documentary uses this maxim as its starting point and as an organizing theme. It traces the Forest Service efforts to deliver the most benefits to the most people, while remaining good stewards of the land. It is along this axis, the exploitation and protection of nature, that the story turns.

About the national forests, historian Char Miller says: "We own them! So of course we are going to disagree about how they should be managed." Conflict, he argues, is inherent to the management of public lands in a democracy.

The film examines these conflicts in major natural resource issues: grazing, fire, wilderness, game/wildlife, watershed protection, recreation and, of course, timber. The film also profiles Forest Service employees, including Pinchot, Aldo Leopold, Arthur Carhart and Bob Marshall, who invented new ways of addressing these conflicts.

The film features an original score and is narrated by Charles Osgood. Its showing is cosponsored by the Penn State Student Chapter of the Society of American Foresters, Xi Sigma Pi Eta Chapter, and Penn State Student Organization for Society and Natural Resources. For more information, contact Finley at 814-863-0401 or by e-mail at fj4@psu.edu.

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Writer/Editor: Jeff Mulhollem Office 814-863-2719 FAX 814-863-9877