Clearcutting the Pacific Rain Forest

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

The overproduction, waste, and destructive exploitation of the Northwest
Pacific rain forest is the subject of this study by historian Richard
Rajala.

Lumber has served as the cornerstone of state and provincial economies
on the North Pacific Coast for over a century. Once the railways reached
the West Coast in the late 19th century, the market for lumber was
assured. This book explores the roots of the present crisis through a
critical and historical analysis of the process of deforestation in the
Douglas fir region of British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon between
1880 and 1965.

Rajala examines both the technological and managerial structures of
forest exploitation, and the role of government in regulating the
conduct of large corporations. His history of clearcutting—the
industry’s primary method of harvesting since logging was mechanized
in the late 19th century—discusses the interests and actions of the
key players, namely the forestry workers, multinational corporations,
and early environmentalists. Numerous black-and-white photographs
enliven this unique view of the historical debate over clearcutting and
other forest practices. Highly recommended.