The Agony of an American WildernessBy Samuel MacDonald |
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Book Review The spotted owl and the virgin forests of the Pacific Northwest are the emblematic symbols of logging conflicts in the United States. These images convey a seemingly simple account of what is at stake: environmentalists protecting untouched landscapes and endangered species on one side, loggers and timber companies fighting to protect their livelihoods and profits on the other. The real center of the controversy has shifted, however, from Washington and Oregon to Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest. In recent years, this area has become a hotbed of environmental activism, lawsuits, and bitter disagreement. The story of how this came to be and what it means for the future of logging in America is the subject of Samuel A. MacDonald’s new book, The Agony of an American Wilderness.
A native of Ridgway, PA, a small town bordering the Allegheny National Forest, MacDonald returned to the area on a grant from the Phillips Foundation to report on the developing controversy. Interviewing the people affected by every angle of the argument, he uncovers a story far more complicated than simply “loggers versus environmentalists.” 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 Pacific Northwest’s old growth forests, the woods there are young and, to some extent, unnatural. Exploitative clear-cutting exterminated the trees and wildlife that inhabited the area in the nineteenth century, leaving behind a scarred and barren landscape when the Forest Service began buying parcels of land in the 1920s. 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.
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. Pennsylvania families with a history of logging, hunting, and fishing don’t like to be told how to run a forest by a bunch of stargazing “Flatlanders” from California (as one common stereotype would have it). At other times, the most radical environmentalists have more than earned the distrust of locals through acts of destruction and vandalism. 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 Indiana bat was discovered in the national forest. Taking a page from the playbook of activists in the Pacific Northwest, The Allegheny Defense Project, an environmental protection group, took the opportunity to sue under the Endangered Species Act to have logging stopped on the creature’s habitat. They succeeded in getting only a six-month moratorium while the Forest Service adapted to comply with the act. 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 that 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, 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 Allegheny National Forest. 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 United States. 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. |
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