A Conspiracy of Optimism: Management of the National Forests Since World War II Paul W. Hirt
About: This article is published in Pacific Historical Review.The article was published on 1997-11-01. It has received 12 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: World War II.
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TL;DR: This paper examined the differences in property relations, state institutions, stakeholder interests, and environmental social-movement strategies that led to nearly opposite outcomes in initially similar situations, and analyzed community forestry in British Columbia relative to current debates over neoliberalism and alternative economies.
Abstract: Calls for community forestry on public forests grew in strength in both British Columbia and the United States during the 1990s, as part of a global movement touting the advantages of community control over centralized state administration of forests. Despite structural similarities, the trajectories of community forestry in the two locations diverged sharply, with community forests rapidly becoming a reality in British Columbia while similar proposals in the United States were blocked. This article explains these divergent trajectories by examining the differences in property relations, state institutions, stakeholder interests, and environmental social-movement strategies that led to nearly opposite outcomes in initially similar situations. It also analyzes community forestry in British Columbia relative to current debates over neoliberalism and alternative economies, arguing that detailed examination of such empirical examples demonstrates the utility of neoliberalism as an analytical concept.
217 citations
Cites background from "A Conspiracy of Optimism: Managemen..."
...…technological and locational restructuring in the timber industry, mounting awareness of ecological damage, and the growth of effective environmental movements have called this entire edifice of forest governance into sharp question in both countries (Hirt 1994; Marchak 1995; Tollefson 1998)....
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...Many exercised this capacity during the 1980s, and rates of logging on national forests fell steeply during the 1990s in particular (Hirt 1994; Dryzek 1996)....
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88 citations
Cites background from "A Conspiracy of Optimism: Managemen..."
...Environmental historians have provided important foundations for such an undertaking (e.g., Worster 1985, 1994; Hays 1987; Dunlap 1988; Hirt 1994; Langston 1995; Sellars 1997), but in many ways we are still bogged down in the traditional conservation historiography of “utilitarians” versus…...
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Book•
01 Jan 2012
71 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine environmental activists' views of place-based collaboration and how they have related to it in the management of U.S. national forests and conclude with a discussion of the possibilities for environmentalists in placebased collaboration.
Abstract: This article examines environmental activists' views of place-based collaboration and how they have related to it in the management of U.S. national forests. We first present a brief historical overview of the issues that led to the emergence of place-based collaboration in the U.S. West. We then discuss the main themes in the environmentalist critique of place-based collaboration. Next we present case studies of three prominent examples of place-based collaboration in the West--the Quincy Library Group in California and the Applegate Partnership and Lake County Community Sustainability Initiative in Oregon--to explore the relationship of environmentalists to place-based collaboration. We conclude with a discussion of the possibilities for environmentalists in place-based collaboration.
64 citations
Cites background from "A Conspiracy of Optimism: Managemen..."
...With the gradual exhaustion of private timber supplies and the postwar home building boom, the timber industry lobbied the U.S. Forest Service to accelerate the sale of federal timber (Hirt 1994)....
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...Recreational uses exploded, as did concern for the protection of wildlife habitat (Hirt 1994; Nash 1982)....
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...…Species Act (ESA), the 1976 National Forest Management Act (NFMA), and so on—increased oversight of forest management by the public, decreased the volume of timber production, and compelled the Forest Service to increase its focus on wilderness and wildlife values (Hirt 1994; Wilkinson 1992)....
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TL;DR: The Northwest Forest Plan applies a shift in policy to national forests in the Pacific Northwest, with implications for other public landscapes as discussed by the authors, which offers potentially strong scenic implications for areas that have historically emphasized clearcutting with little visual impact mitigation.
Abstract: The Northwest Forest Plan applies a shift in policy to national forests in the Pacific Northwest, with implications for other public landscapes. This shift offers potentially strong scenic implications for areas that have historically emphasized clearcutting with little visual impact mitigation. These areas will now emphasize biocentric concerns and harvests formed accordingly. Public perceptions of a simulation of this landscape transformation indicate that it offers to improve the beauty of large vistas. Changes in small vistas and harvests nearer to viewers will still require visual management. Implications for policy stability and the management of forest aesthetics are discussed.
44 citations
Cites background from "A Conspiracy of Optimism: Managemen..."
...The ugliness of clearcutting and claims of what it belies about natural resource damage played a key role (Wood 1971; Hays 1987; Hirt 1994)....
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...After the NFMA, the potential for major new controversy and policy change was largely exhausted (Hays 1987), and this new national forest landscape became the substrate for public opinion, nascent dissatisfactions, and local controversies (Hirt 1994)....
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References
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TL;DR: This paper examined the differences in property relations, state institutions, stakeholder interests, and environmental social-movement strategies that led to nearly opposite outcomes in initially similar situations, and analyzed community forestry in British Columbia relative to current debates over neoliberalism and alternative economies.
Abstract: Calls for community forestry on public forests grew in strength in both British Columbia and the United States during the 1990s, as part of a global movement touting the advantages of community control over centralized state administration of forests. Despite structural similarities, the trajectories of community forestry in the two locations diverged sharply, with community forests rapidly becoming a reality in British Columbia while similar proposals in the United States were blocked. This article explains these divergent trajectories by examining the differences in property relations, state institutions, stakeholder interests, and environmental social-movement strategies that led to nearly opposite outcomes in initially similar situations. It also analyzes community forestry in British Columbia relative to current debates over neoliberalism and alternative economies, arguing that detailed examination of such empirical examples demonstrates the utility of neoliberalism as an analytical concept.
217 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2012
71 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine environmental activists' views of place-based collaboration and how they have related to it in the management of U.S. national forests and conclude with a discussion of the possibilities for environmentalists in placebased collaboration.
Abstract: This article examines environmental activists' views of place-based collaboration and how they have related to it in the management of U.S. national forests. We first present a brief historical overview of the issues that led to the emergence of place-based collaboration in the U.S. West. We then discuss the main themes in the environmentalist critique of place-based collaboration. Next we present case studies of three prominent examples of place-based collaboration in the West--the Quincy Library Group in California and the Applegate Partnership and Lake County Community Sustainability Initiative in Oregon--to explore the relationship of environmentalists to place-based collaboration. We conclude with a discussion of the possibilities for environmentalists in place-based collaboration.
64 citations
TL;DR: The Northwest Forest Plan applies a shift in policy to national forests in the Pacific Northwest, with implications for other public landscapes as discussed by the authors, which offers potentially strong scenic implications for areas that have historically emphasized clearcutting with little visual impact mitigation.
Abstract: The Northwest Forest Plan applies a shift in policy to national forests in the Pacific Northwest, with implications for other public landscapes. This shift offers potentially strong scenic implications for areas that have historically emphasized clearcutting with little visual impact mitigation. These areas will now emphasize biocentric concerns and harvests formed accordingly. Public perceptions of a simulation of this landscape transformation indicate that it offers to improve the beauty of large vistas. Changes in small vistas and harvests nearer to viewers will still require visual management. Implications for policy stability and the management of forest aesthetics are discussed.
44 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the political economy of this labour market in light of the differing utility, specificity and history of the concept of "wage slavery" to Latino and white forest workers, focusing on the articulation and intersection of racial and class-based identities, and also the role of the state in the reproduction of labour market segmentation by race.
Abstract: 'Wage slavery' is sometimes used by workers and their representatives to describe the position of the labour force - low-wage, mobile, seasonal and almost entirely Latino - in the timber services sector of the US Pacific North-West. This article examines the political economy of this labour market in light of the differing utility, specificity and history of the concept of 'wage slavery' to Latino and white forest workers. The focus is on the articulation and intersection of racial and class-based identities, and also on the role of the state in the reproduction of labour market segmentation by race.
33 citations