Living in the Appalachian Forest: true tales of sustainable forestry by Chris Bolgiano.$18.95. Stackpole Books, 2002. Chris Bolgiano has achieved a bit of literary alchemy alchemy (ăl`kəmē), ancient art of obscure origin that sought to transform base metals (e.g., lead) into silver and gold; forerunner of the science of chemistry. by mixing the emerging science of sustainable forestry Sustainable forestry is a forest management practice. The basic tenet of sustainable forestry is that the amount of goods and services yielded from a forest should be at a level the forest is capable of producing without degradation of the soil, watershed features or seed source with personal stories of people who are, in her words, "exploring what sustainability means in a postindustrial post·in·dus·tri·al adj. Of or relating to a period in the development of an economy or nation in which the relative importance of manufacturing lessens and that of services, information, and research grows. Adj. 1. forest." The result is pure gold--a book of deeply human insights into both the history and present realities of life in the great Appalachian Forest, and the practical meaning of the myriad technical concepts that define sustainable forestry. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The people Bolgiano encountered are as diverse in their experiences as the complex forest in which they live and work: a consulting forester, horse logger, ginseng ginseng (jĭn`sĕng), common name for the Araliaceae, a family of tropical herbs, shrubs, and trees that are often prickly and sometimes grow as climbing forms. grower, Sierra Club Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by the Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, the Sierra Club leader, a miner-turned-cougar "hunter," and others working at a nature camp, small college, and large lumber lumber, term for timber that has been cut into boards for use as a building material. The major steps in producing lumber involve logging (the felling and preparation of timber for shipment to sawmills), sawing the logs into boards, grading the boards according to company. And there are a few like Chris and her husband, who couldn't resist the universal American urge to own a tract of land and who now live in the Appalachian forest--a region that was severely exploited and deforested, leading to the enactment of the historic Weeks Act of 1911 for forest conservation. These are people who Bolgiano sought out because "they are pioneers ... exploring a new path, a middle ground between preservation and exploitation." That "new path" is giving practical meaning to the many scientific terms and current forestry jargon used to describe sustainable forestry: forest stewardship, BMPs (best management practices), low-impact forest management, equine equine Any member of the ungulate family Equidae, which includes the modern horses, zebras, and asses, all in the genus Equus, as well as more than 60 species known only from fossils. Equines descended from the dawn horse (see Eohippus). technology, biological woodsmanship, forest certification, nontimber products (e.g. ginseng), land trusts, and TIMOs (timber investment management organizations). The people the reader meets in this award-winning book are making the idea of sustainable forestry a reality on the living landscape; a theory transformed into practice. The people come from across the Appalachian Forest, from Pennsylvania through the Carolinas and Virginias to Georgia and Tennessee, captured in some 30 B & W photos and 200 pages of text and notes. But their stories speak to people everywhere who are seeking a better way to manage their woodlands for a livelihood and as a heritage for those who will follow them as stewards of the land. |
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