Current Issue: Issue 40 (May 2018)

The American West after the Timber Wars

Disputes between the timber industry, public forest land managers, federal and state regulatory agencies, and environmental groups from the 1980s through the early 2000s resulted in polarization and distrust across forest communities of the American West. These ‘Timber Wars’ centered on the conservation of old-growth forests and biodiversity, and the declining socio-economic status of many timber-dependent communities. The disputes were complex, with arguments over values, identity, and environmental governance. They involved legal, cultural, discursive, and at times violent battles between adversaries. For this issue of the Humboldt Journal of Social Relations (HJSR), we explore the dynamics of the post-Timber War American West and how communities and stakeholders have forged ways to diversify their economies and have, often collaboratively, worked to find compromise and face newly-emerging challenges of forest land management.