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The Agony of an American Wilderness
Author: Sam MacDonald
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. - 2005 Reviewed by Jacob Grier
Humane Studies Review - Featured Book Review
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The spotted owl and
the virgin forests of the Pacific Northwest are the emblematic symbols
of logging conflicts in the U
The real center of
the controversy has shifted, however, from
A native of
The dispute takes place in the midst of a complex milieu of cultural, political, and economic forces that involves just about everyone in the region. Through his extensive interviews and colorful descriptions of the characters involved, MacDonald sheds light on the motivations and history behind the fight to control the Allegheny and, perhaps, forests throughout the nation. Part of what makes the dispute over the Allegheny so heated is its long tradition of logging.
Unlike the
There was no longer any forest to speak of, which led some at the time to refer to the place as the "Allegheny Brush Heap." MacDonald recalls that by the time he was growing up, the "brush heap" could be seen only in photos that were unrecognizable as the local landscape to kids of his generation.
By then, a carefully managed forest had grown in to replace the desolate ground of decades before. He remembers vibrant forests and streams that were perfect for a young boy's hunting and fishing outings. This forest is a dream come true for people in the timber industry, too. For them it is not just new, it is new and improved.
Unlike the northern hardwoods of beech, hemlock, and white pine that used to populate the region, it is composed primarily of lucrative hardwoods like black cherry that fetch higher values on the market.
Black cherry probably only made up about one percent of the trees in the forest one hundred years ago; today it accounts for twenty-five percent.
The new forest is so different that a new term, "Allegheny hardwood," was coined to describe it.
By the time the environmental controversy was heating up, wood from the Allegheny was selling at unheard-of prices and bringing in significant revenue for the surrounding communities. For most locals, the story of the Allegheny's wealth-generating rebirth is an environmental triumph, a tale of using smart management to revitalize both nature and the economy. For environmentalists, it is a story of nature distorted and destroyed. They contend that rather than pursuing policies that would restore the forest to its natural state, the Forest Service has developed an artificial tree farm for the timber companies.
They have a point: the Allegheny has been run under a system of even-aged management, which, as the name suggests, creates stands of trees that are all approximately the same age. This may or may not be the best approach for the forest, but it is undeniably convenient for the loggers who harvest its trees. Activists contend that despite some accommodations for creating wildlife habitat, even-aged management is essentially a way of allowing clear-cutting under a euphemistic name. The environmentalists concerns deserve a hearing. Unfortunately, as MacDonald documents throughout the book, emotional opposition often precludes the possibility of rational discourse. Sometimes this is just due to a cultural disconnect.
The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a loosely affiliated network of activists who often turn to eco-terrorism, perpetrated a string of attacks around the Allegheny starting in 2002.
The most notorious of these, and the incident with which MacDonald opens the book, is an arson that did $700,000 of damage to a Forest Service research laboratory. The note claiming responsibility for it included a threat of further physical violence against people. (In fairness, some environmental activists report being harassed by loggers, too, but nothing on the scale of the ELF attacks.) The most pervasive source of tension falls somewhere in between cultural disconnect and the violence of radicals: lawsuits, lawsuits, and more lawsuits. Environmentalists in the region have turned frequently to the courts in their attempts to change policies on the Allegheny. They have thus far failed to achieve much of lasting significance with this approach, but the delays these lawsuits impose on cutting can create real financial hardship for the loggers and sawyers who depend on a steady stream of work to make their livings. As an example, in
1998 an endangered species called the
Taking a page from
the playbook of activists in the
Virtually nothing changed for either the bat or logging practices, but those six months were enough to drive a number of smaller loggers out of business. The business closings bring up another complication, without which no explanation of the Allegheny dispute would be complete.
In a chapter aptly entitled "Mom and Pop Go Bust," MacDonald documents how in the past decade the region's logging industry has tilted decidedly in favor of large corporations. This is due in part to the fact that they have bigger budgets and more efficient machinery, which the smaller operations who used to flourish on the Allegheny cannot match.
Another factor, however, is that the big companies own large plots of land from which to cut their own timber, while smaller companies are used to relying on wood cut from the national forest.
As repeated lawsuits have made it harder and harder to cut trees on public land, the advantage has shifted to those who have access to private stands.
It is unclear how much of the consolidation of the industry is due to the environmentalists and how much is due to other economic forces.
Nevertheless, the dismay of former independents being forced to sell out and work for giant corporations only adds hostility to an already tense situation. Finding grounds for compromise in this mix of competing visions and struggling businesses is difficult, but there are those who try to find a third way between unabated logging and some environmentalists' goal of zero-cut on public land.
College student Blair Anundson, one of the more memorable characters profiled in the book, is a case in point. Anundson grew up in the area and works summers for his father's successful for-profit forest management business. He is also a dedicated progressive activist involved with groups like Amnesty International, Students for Reproductive Options, and the Green Party.
He should be a poster boy for the Allegheny environmental movement, but his opposition to zero-cut and his skepticism about the efficacy of repeated lawsuits alienates him from groups like the Allegheny Defense Project.
Anundson and others like him are convinced that outside environmental groups fail to understand the realities of the Allegheny. So instead, they opt to pursue goals like establishing sustainable forestry practices and retiring unproductive lands into wilderness. Similarly, the logging corporations that own land in the region are often a far cry from the rapacious clear-cutters that razed the forests in the previous century. MacDonald cites the Kane Hardwood Division of the Collins Pine Corporation as an example of responsible private land management. The company owns about 125,000 acres of land that it uses for timber. It also opens the land to various recreational pursuits, forbids all terrain vehicles (ATVs), and meets or exceeds the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council. Meeting the strict standards of the Council allows them to market their wood to eco-conscious consumers, bringing their interests and those of many environmentalists into harmony. MacDonald is reluctant to make any policy prescriptions within his journalistic account of the dispute.
In the final chapter,
however, he does float the idea of privatization. This is, he notes, a
controversial option, but several factors make it attractive for the
One is that it is a relatively new forest, not old growth.
Another is that unlike most national forests, the Allegheny has proven itself capable of generating significant revenue over the long-term.
Finally, the demonstrated willingness of some corporations to enact sustainable foresting techniques and the possibility that groups like the Nature Conservancy would purchase some of the land suggest that private forests would not be an environmental disaster.
Unfortunately, MacDonald does not elaborate on how sustainable forestry works or how privatization might best be carried out. These topics deserve more than a passing mention in a book that is otherwise very good about getting into details. MacDonald's greatest strength is his skill at conveying the personalities, histories, and motivations of the many people caught up in the web of the Allegheny logging dispute.
Though it becomes clear that his sympathies lie more with improved management techniques and continued logging than with zero-cut, he is fair to show the virtues and foibles of those he questions on every side of the debate.
Getting to know them through the sketches of his interviews is one of the most enjoyable aspects of his book. The Agony of an
American Wilderness serves as an invaluable case study of the
logging debates in the
After reading it, one is left with an understanding of the issues and a better appreciation for the views of interested parties. Though the book draws no conclusion, it does provide a warning and a suggestion.
The warning is that the stringent demands of zero-cut supporters could eventually take hold in the law and spread beyond the Allegheny.
The suggestion is that the best solutions may lie beyond politics, in the private realm where compromise and mutual interest may ensure a better future.
For that, Sam MacDonald's book is a resource worth far more than the paper on which it is printed.
Jacob
Grier is a freelance writer and close-up magician based in |