Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service. The latter consistently took the position that phosphate strip mining would lay waste portions of Osceola Forest and that technologies did not exist to allow post-mining restoration of the Forest. This proposition and supporting evidence were advanced in the 1974 Final Environmental Statement and the 1979 Final Supplemental ES. Further, in early 1980 and 1981, the incumbent Secretaries of the Agriculture Department re-emphasized the position of the Forest Service that technologies did not exist to restore the Forest consistent with its purpose. But later in 1981, statements began to surface from responsible spokesmen in Agriculture and representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency began to make statements that technologies were becoming available to restore the Forest. (K-M Exs. 89-91.)

ANALYSIS
The Osceola National Forestis predominately acquired land and was purchased by the federal government for special purposes. As such, it is accorded a protective status. The primary purposes for which it is being administered by the Forest Service include timber production, water shed protection, recreation, and fish and wildlife. 16 U.S.C. § 528. The Weeks Act of 1911, under which the Forest was purchased, gave the Secretary of Agriculture authority to recommend lands for purchase "as in his judgment may be necessary to the regulation of the flow of navigable streams or for the production of timber...." 43 Stat. 654 (1924) (emphasis added). The National Forest Preservation Commission, created by the Congress, with instructions to prepare acquisition reports under the Weeks Act, recommended purchasing the lands which became the Osceola National