The true story of a volunteer firefighter who finds himself involved in fighting the largest wildfire in the history of the State of Arizona.

Delcourt takes readers on her personal journey to document the history of the forest from its elusive and nebulous presence at the peak of the last ice age through its development as a magnificent natural resource to its uncertainty in today's, and tomorrow's, greenhouse world. Along this journey, the reader is introduced to methods of studying vegetation, collecting and interpreting data, and applying the insights of forest ecology and history to project future needs of the forest in a world that is increasingly dominated by human activities. The philosophical, intellectual, and methodological perspectives contained in the book will appeal to readers interested in understanding how the natural history of North America has been studied and how that study can contribute to the protection and preservation of America's important biological resources.

An annotated bibliography focused on Borneo and the Southern Philippines. With over 1,000 citations, this reference work identifies patterns of forestland transformation common to the areas under consideration. A subject index is included.

Nestled within our green and pleasant land lies pockets of emerald trees. Their roots search deep into the ground and the branches reach high towards the sun. For centuries some of these have stood watching and listening to the human creatures living among them, hearing their stories and remembering. What mysteries could these woodlands tell if the trees could speak? Stories of brave deeds and foolish, star-crossed lovers, of monsters, giants and witches, hobs and kings. Discover the secrets of our forests in this engaging collection of folk tales.

The rapid disappearance of tropical forests is widely recognized as a crucial problem for the world's environment, yet little is known about these complex ecosytems. In this book, experts on the four most thoroughly studied rainforests in Central and South America-Manaus, Brazil; Manu Park, Peru; Barro Colorado Island, Panama; and La Selva, Costa Rica-compare the flora, fauna, and ecological characteristics of these forests. This assemblage of reliable data, available for the first time, will be an invaluable resource for researchers and students.

Tropical forests form the most diverse and complex ecosystem on earth a virtual powerhouse of evolution containing 40 percent of all living species. They provide us with food, medicines, germplasm stocks to replenish our crops, and new types of energy sources. It is clear we cannot afford to lose our tropical forests. But we are losing them to the overexploitation of multinational corporations, to the severe economic needs of the Third World, and to the consumerist appetites of the developed nations. Where is this happening and why? The answers to these critical questions are set forth eloquently by Norman Myers, one of the world s leading experts on the environment and the author of The Long African Day, The Sinking Ark, and A Wealth of Species. Dr. Myers delineates the scope of the problem and offers a blueprint for its solution."

Shabano -- the name for the hamlets of palm-thatched dwellings where the Yanomama Indians of Venezuela and southern Brazil live -- recounts the vivid and unforgettable experience of anthropologists Florinda Donner's time with an indigenous tribe in the endangered rain forest. Shabano dramatically documents the daily life and mysterious rituals of a disappearing people.

The very ancient Eastern forest of North America is characterized by an extraordinary variety of plants, animals, and human communities. Barry M. Buxton refers to this diverse area as the Great Forest in his book A Great Forest: An Appalachian Story, published in 1985. Buxton examines the natural and cultural landscape of the Appalachian region, and provides a detailed history of the area. In order to study the ecology of the forest, he includes a narrative of the people behind the forest and how they have impacted and changed the landscape.

2020 Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Award During the nineteenth century, the development and codification of forest science in France were closely linked to Provence's time-honored tradition of mobile pastoralism, which formed a major part of the economy. At the beginning of the century, pastoralism also featured prominently in the economies and social traditions of North Africa and southwestern Anatolia until French forest agents implemented ideas and practices for forest management in these areas aimed largely at regulating and marginalizing Mediterranean mobile pastoral traditions. These practices changed not only landscapes but also the social order of these three Mediterranean societies and the nature of French colonial administration. In Nomad's Land Andrea E. Duffy investigates the relationship between Mediterranean mobile pastoralism and nineteenth-century French forestry through case studies in Provence, French colonial Algeria, and Ottoman Anatolia. By restricting the use of shared spaces, foresters helped bring the populations of Provence and Algeria under the control of the state, and French scientific forestry became a medium for state initiatives to sedentarize mobile pastoral groups in Anatolia. Locals responded through petitions, arson, violence, compromise, and adaptation. Duffy shows that French efforts to promote scientific forestry both internally and abroad were intimately tied to empire building and paralleled the solidification of Western narratives condemning the pastoral tradition, leading to sometimes tragic outcomes for both the environment and pastoralists.

The indigenous people of the Amazon Basin known as the Huaorani are one of the world's most intriguing peoples. The community of just under four thousand in Ecuador has been known to the public primarily for their historical identity as a violent society. But Laura Rival reveals the Huaorani in all their humanity and creativity through a longitudinal ethnography, bringing a deeper perspective beyond the stereotype. Rival's intimate knowledge of Huaorani culture spans twenty-five years. Here in a collection of broad-ranging essays, she offers a fascinating and provocative study. The first section, "Among Forest Beings," shows that the Huaorani have long adapted to life in the tropical rain forest with minimal reliance on horticulture, yet have developed a complex relationship with plants. In "In the Longhouse," the second section, Rival focuses on the intimate relations that create human persons and enact kinship relations. She also discusses women's lives and perspectives. The third section, "In the Midst of Enemies," considers how Huaorani society fits in larger political and economic contexts, illustrating how native values shape their encounters with oil companies, the state, and other external forces. Rival carefully analyzes insider/outsider dialectics wherein Huaorani people re-create meaningful and valued worlds in the face of alien projects, such as petroleum development, carbon trading, or intercultural education. Capitalizing on the author's decades-long study and interactions in the community, Huaorani Transformations in Twenty-First-Century Ecuador brings new insights to the Huaorani's unique way of relating to humans, to other-than-humans, and to the forest landscape they have inhabited for centuries.

The Amazon rain forest covers more than five million square kilometers, amid the territories of nine different nations. It represents over half of the planet's remaining rain forests. But is it truly in peril? And what steps are necessary to save it? To understand the future of Amazonia, one must know how its history was forged: in the eras of large pre-Columbian populations, in the gold rush of conquistadors, in centuries of slavery, in the schemes of Brazil's military dictators in the 1960s and 1970s, and in new globalized economies where Brazilian soy and beef now dominate, while the market in carbon credits raises the value of standing forest. Susanna Hecht and Alexander Cockburn show in compelling detail the panorama of destruction as it unfolded and also reveal the extraordinary turnaround that is now taking place, thanks to both social movements and the emergence of new environmental markets. Exploring the role of human hands in destroying - and saving - this vast, forested region, "The Fate of the Forest" pivots on the murder of Chico Mendes, the legendary labor and environmental organizer assassinated after successful confrontations with big ranchers. A multifaceted portrait of Eden under siege, complete with a new preface and afterword by the authors, this book demonstrates that those who would hold a mirror up to nature must first learn the lessons offered by some of their own people.

Restoration of our national forests benefits the environment and creates jobs in rural communities. Increasing the pace of restoration of the Nation's forests is critically needed to address a variety of threats including fire, climate change, the bark beetle infestation, and others -- to the health of our forest ecosystems, watersheds, and forest-dependent communities. The Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Park Service (NPS) within the Department of the Interior have increasingly promoted landscape-scale forest restoration as a way to improve forest health. Through landscape-scale projects, agencies can treat tens or hundreds of thousands of acres, in contrast to projects commonly of under 1,000 acres. Such projects must comply with NEPA by assessing the effects of major federal actions that significantly affect the environment. This book examines the number of such projects the agencies have conducted and how they are scoped; the actions taken by agencies to track the projects' progress; successes and challenges experienced by agencies; and steps taken by agencies to help increase NEPA efficiency for such projects.

Forest ecosystems cover around 31% of the total land area of the Earth. They represent important biodiversity and genetic resources; provide material goods, including fuelwood, commercial timber, soils, medicinal plants and others; as well as environmental services, such as cleaning air and water, sequestering carbon and maintaining biodiversity. Old-growth forests are those developed during long periods without relevant human impact and with distinctive features in terms of forest continuity, structural heterogeneity, large volumes of standing and fallen deadwood, decaying ancient and veteran trees, and large diameter live trees. These characteristics ensure the growth and dispersal of forest-dwelling species, playing thus a vital role in the conservation of biodiversity. This book discusses the ecology, habitat and conservation of old-growth forests, as well as coniferous forests.

The Amazon forest is one of the world's most complex, unknown and threatened ecosystems that holds a considerable part of biodiverse species in different groups. This ecosystem needs greater scientific attention so that we can better understand the features of the fauna, flora and microbiota to conserve species before they disappear. Thus, this book addresses issues about resources of the largest rainforest of the world. Microbiota, fauna and flora are investigated differently, providing information of ecological interest, pharmaceutical and/or economic importance. Specialists and scientists that work in Amazonia can access new information about the species that inhabit this region with unprecedented advances on ecological and behavioral aspects of apple snails, meat yield and nutritive potential of crustacean species, tadpole knowledge, mitefaun in agroecosystems, pharmaceutical potential of plant species, computational models for flora cultivation, and reviews of microbiota composition of Amazonia. Scientists will acquire knowledge about aromatic plants from the Amazon and their applications, which include uses in perfumes, fragrances, cosmetics, phytopharmaceuticals, insecticides, fungicides, bactericides, larvicides and others. Regarding the microbiota of different Amazonian environments, the book is intended to present information about applications related to mycorrhizal fungi and endophytic microorganisms.

For over a century, Experimental Forests and Ranges (EFRs) have provided critical science on the ecosystems and management activities of the National Forest System. Forest Service EFRs play a unique and important role both within the agency as well as in the broader field of land management. The goal of EFRs is to generate knowledge that benefits both public land managers and private land owners. This goal is achieved through research projects on pressing natural resource topics such as hydrology, fire dynamics, range management, erosion, climate change, silviculture, and forest regeneration. EFRs are uniquely situated for such research due to their relative stability and long-term datasets. This book specifically discusses the role of EFRs in understanding and adapting to climate change.

Natural resource policy and management in the United States often are characterized by limited budgets and multiple, and sometimes competing, societal objectives. The use and management of forest lands in the U.S. involve tradeoffs between the current and potential benefits public and private lands provide to society and the effects the policy and management actions have on the resiliency of natural systems. However, translating society's multiple forestry objectives into policies and management actions has become more difficult as society's objectives have become more complex. This book characterizes the concept of ecosystem services as it could apply to national forests; describes the value of an ecosystem service approach and provides examples of how management actions support the provision of these services; compares the Deschutes National Forest's current accomplishment reporting system to ecosystem service outcomes that potentially result from management activities; identifies partners with potential to collaboratively plan, fund, or implement projects to enhance or conserve ecosystem services; describes current research efforts to support management application of the ecosystem service concept; and identifies research needs.

This is the first book to describe the forests of the entire tropical Asian region, from Sind to New Guinea. Based on Peter Ashton's working field experience of over 55 years in every country, Burma and Laos excepted. Following a chapter on physical geography and geological history, seven chapters address forest and tree structure and dynamics, floristics, mountain forests, the other organisms on which the forests and trees depend, as well as genetics, evolutionary history, species diversity, and past and present human impact. A final chapter covers future policy and practice options for the sustainment of what remains.

Set in the rich natural, cultural, and political landscape of Haida Gwaii, Islands’ Spirit Rising examines the long-term conflict over the islands’ ancient forests and recent events that unfolded in the context of collaborative land-use planning. In response to threats posed by a century of logging, a local Indigenous-environmental-community movement built enough momentum to challenge the multinational forest industry and the political structures enabling it. This book traces the evolution of this dynamic force, from the early days of Haida resistance to the modern context of alliances, legal battles, and evolving forms of governance.

Tropical deforestation and rural poverty are among the major apprehensions of developing nations in the 21st century. The protectionist paradigm that had dominated nature conservation since the 19th century is replaced by a strong notion that poverty reduction and environmental protection should go hand in hand. Decentralization is among the key polices devised to achieve these dual objectives of forest governance. This book presents the role decentralized forest governance can contribute to address the aforementioned problems by comparing and contrasting three forms of decentralization, i.e. deconcentration, delegation and devolution in Ethiopia. Owning to the alarming rate of deforestation and the large number of biodiversity hosted by the remnant forests, the Ethiopian forests are included in global biodiversity hot-spots by Conservation International. The country is also well known for recurrent poverty. Consequently, it is a perfect candidate to investigate the linkage among decentralized forest governance, forests and poverty.

The Forest Service manages more than 158,000 miles of recreational trails offering hikers, horseback riders, cyclists, off-highway-vehicle drivers, and others access to national forests. To remain safe and usable, these trails need regular maintenance, such as removal of downed trees or bridge repairs. This book examines (1) the extent to which the Forest Service is meeting trail maintenance needs, and effects associated with any maintenance not done; (2) resources, including funding and labour, that the agency employs to maintain its trails; (3) factors, if any, complicating agency efforts to maintain its trails; and (4) options, if any, that could improve the agency's trail maintenance efforts.

This book examines one of the most important ecosystems of the world, the Amazon Rainforest, with a focus on the diversity of species found in the region; its importance and vulnerability on the processes, especially anthropogenic, which are occurring; the sustainable use of products found in the forest and how it can be less degrading for those who depend on it to survive; and how public policies and correct decision-making could benefit the sustainable use of the forest. The quality of life of people living in this region and how the processes of forest degradation influence precipitation is also discussed, as are key elements for the proper maintenance of this ecosystem. You can understand how the forest is connected with other parts of the world through an analysis of what is presented in these chapters in terms of climate change and the biological, anthropological, economic and meteorological point of view.

"This book is a remarkably personal report of the authors' trans-tropical experiences with forest dwellers. The experience was extensive, sometimes spanning years, and the report is the work of professional reporters, experienced at reaching to the core of critical issues of life and survival. The story is not a pretty one, and the prognosis is not good. But in their eyes the key lies in restoring and defending the rights of forest dwellers and encouraging in every way their age-old interest in preserving the integrity of forest lands. The authors are familiar with the international agencies and their programs, their successes and failures. Roger Stone was intimately involved in the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development and draws heavily on that experience. The book will strengthen the conclusions of that Commission to the effect that the world's future lies heavily entangled with the continuity of forests globally, and that continuity hinges on respect for local interests."--George M. Woodwell, Director, Woods Hole Research Center

"For twenty years, we have watched TV specials on the destruction of tropical forests -- an acre a second lost, every second for twenty years. This beautifully written book takes you right to the middle of the current international debate about what to do about it. It pulls no punches and proposes its own provocative solution. It offers a perspective that cannot be ignored and an answer that needs to be tried."--James Gustave Speth, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science

"For more than a century, the conservation movement has dedicated its energy to protecting the Earth's biodiversity. WWF has built its conservation philosophyand foundation for over forty years on principles of sound science, effective public policy, and recognition of the fundamental role local people bring to achieving tangible conservation results on the ground. Roger Stone and Claudia D'Andrea take us on a tour of the tropical forested regions of the world and capture important lessons about the merits of local control over forest resources. Their wide-ranging portrayal of community-based forest management arrangements, set within the global context of deforestation and loss of biodiversity, provides compelling testimony to the wisdom of empowering local people and nurturing their spirit as effective forest stewards."--Kathryn S. Fuller, President, World Wildlife Fund