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Clearcutting the Pacific Rain Forest: Production, Science and Regulation

Labour, 1999, Vol.43 (43), p.240-241 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

Copyright 1999 The Canadian Committee on Labour History ;COPYRIGHT 1999 Canadian Committee on Labour History ;COPYRIGHT 1999 Canadian Committee on Labour History ;Copyright Canadian Committee on Labour History Spring 1999 ;ISSN: 0700-3862 ;EISSN: 1911-4842 ;DOI: 10.2307/25148952

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  • Title:
    Clearcutting the Pacific Rain Forest: Production, Science and Regulation
  • Author: Marchak, Patricia
  • Subjects: Automation ; British Columbia ; Canada ; Environmental aspects ; Forest management ; Large enterprises ; Logging ; Regulation ; Review/Comptes Rendus
  • Is Part Of: Labour, 1999, Vol.43 (43), p.240-241
  • Description: On balance, I found this book to be a useful reference work, especially on technological change and government legislation from 1930s to the 1960s. It does what few others have attempted: it combines a critique of clearcutting with an analysis of labour practices. A weakness which might not disturb others who prefer depictions that are "clean and clear" is, to my mind, the failure to recognize that often the actors in this drama had no idea what the devil they were doing. They were embedded in an epoch and its version of progress. Forestry and engineering schools were established on that version. Environmentalism as a cause existed, to be sure, but not yet as a widespread movement. All along the Pacific coast the economy depended on the export of semi-processed wood products. It is only two decades or so since alternative economic options freed an educated population to earn its keep elsewhere, and that made way for urban demands for the liberation of the forest from the feller-bunchers and high-lead logging. This contextualizing makes the picture messier, and somewhat softens the image of the bad guys who clearcut, managed, and administered the clearcutting regime. But our understanding of history, in my view requires acknowledgment of the context as well as of the evils of the time. The book's strength lies in the detailed examination of technological change and managerial practices in the first section. While descriptions of technology have been provided in numerous other sources, Rajala provides a much more detailed and more analytical view than has generally been given. The automation of logging and milling took place after 1965, but similar interests were at stake in both mechanization and automation. The combination of industrial expansion and reduction of labour input per cubic metre cut was already evident in the pre-1965 period. The process sped up after 1965, where reductions in labour intensity increased dramatically despite the massive increase in capacity of sawmills and pulpmills and consequently of logging volumes.
  • Publisher: Committee on Canadian Labour History
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 0700-3862
    EISSN: 1911-4842
    DOI: 10.2307/25148952
  • Source: AUTh Library subscriptions: ProQuest Central
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