We can only wonder how Thoreau would have reacted,
beyond suffering simultaneously from apoplexy and a coronary, to
the trashing of nature that Clearcut reveals. Not just leaves and
grand passages, but entire chapters have been ripped out.
*David
Brower
In Clearcut: The
Tragedy of Industrial Forestry, disturbing aerial views bear
witness to the elimination of ancient forests throughout North
America. The images of clearcuts in states as diverse as Maine,
Ohio, Texas and Alabama, and provinces such as Saskatchewan, show
us the extent of our loss throughout North America. In essays,
Chris Maser, Colleen McCrory, Reed Noss and Mitch Lansky, among
others, write about the patches of old-growth forests remaining
that are poor imitations of what once was a single, interlocked
entity – a community that covered 2,000 miles along the Pacific
Coast. These patches are now vulnerable to windthrow, catastrophic
fire and invasion by alien species.
Sierra Club
Books and Earth Island Press, San Francisco, Calif. Paper, large
format: $30. 291 pages. Illustrated with black-and-white and color
photos by Garth Lenz, Trygve Steen and Barry Tessman, among
others.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Clearcut.
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