Extracting Forest Knowledge: Race, Class, and Gender in Early American Forestry

Session Submission Type: Complete Panel

Abstract

When managing forests, knowledge of place is an essential resource. Such knowledge was often the product of working people who learned about their local environments through lived experiences. This panel asks how newly trained foresters and forest researchers from middle- and upper-class backgrounds obtained local knowledge of place by interfacing with local communities. We show that, like forest products, knowledge was extracted from the forest and from working people living in and around forests. The members of this panel also discuss problems with, and resistance to, this extraction process, with attention paid to issues of class, race, and gender in the early years of American forestry.

Though some of what early foresters learned was obtained in the classroom or laboratory, forestry has always been a profession that emphasized practical training in the woods. While conducting their fieldwork, foresters had to enter local communities that were much different from their own. One of the goals of fieldwork was to better understand local environments and thus these experts needed to learn from locals. This extraction of knowledge was essential to the development of American forestry but it was done in a selective manner. Foresters frequently—but not always—ignored locals’ advice and dismissed their practices. While this often led to the deterioration of ecological conditions, one panelist will demonstrate that ignoring advice from locals led to an improvement of conditions. This panel will point out the parallels between scientific forestry in the early 20th century and conservation science in this century to show the necessity of listening to longtime members of local communities and giving them credit for their contributions to expert knowledge. All three presenters will be using a story map as part of their talks.

Sub Unit

• ASEH Annual Conference

Individual Presentations

• Lumberjack or Technocrat?: Masculinity as Trade Secret and the Genesis of American Forestry - Jason L Newton, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

• Local Knowledge in Two Conservation Eras - Ruth Anna Stolk, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

• “Reverse Extractionism” and Overcoming Sexism: Dr. Eloise Gerry and Saving the Turpentine Industry - Rachel D Kline, Public historian, USDA Forest Service

Chair

• James Lewis, Forest History Society