Conflict and controversy have surrounded natural resource management in Canada and the United States for a century. This thesis focuses on the "conservation-preservation conflict", a well known issue in resource management. A historical overview of British Columbia's forest policy is presented in an attempt to display the vital role that this conflict of values plays in the understanding of past and present forest policy decisions. An understanding of the role this conflict plays is necessary as the next century's forest policy issues will probably also involve debates between the conservation and preservation interests over an ever-shrinking field of resources.