The 1897 Organic Administration Act originally delegated the responsibility for managing public lands to the Secretary of the Interior, providing that the Secretary: shall make provisions for the protection against destruction by fire and depredations upon the public forests and forest reservations . . .; and he may make such rules and regulations and establish such service as will insure the objects of such reservations, namely to regulate their occupancy and use and to preserve the forests thereon from destruction . . . 30 Stat. 35, 16 U.S.C. § 475. In 1905, Congress transferred responsibility for managing National Forest System lands to the Secretary of Agriculture.

Proposed intervenor has an interest in litigation that impedes its ability to obtain harvest from National Forests, which are managed with the goal of “multiple use and sustained yield,” 16 U.S.C. § 1607, and with the purpose to “furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States.” 16 U.S.C § 475. “Timber companies have direct and substantial interests in a lawsuit aimed at halting logging or, at a minimum, reducing the efficiency of their method of timber-cutting.”