Page 18 RAIN November 1981 D.C~ who have never seen the forests they are governing. In housing they call that absentee landlordism ! An endless bureaucracy of inspectors and overseers alienates forest workers who resent having so many bosses that, despite their presence, are powerless to enforce compliance of regulations. A pay scale that is ·determined by task rather than results encourages the use of shortcuts rather than quality work. Yet despite its shortcomings, government forestry agencies are in an opportune position to effect substantial changes in forest management as public lands account for over a quarter of the wooded lands in the nation and over half the standing saw timanced system of forestry management. An emphasis on labor-intensive methods, rather than herbicides, would reduce the costs of production, bring a higher retur.n on investment spread out over the harvest cycle and create sorely needed local employment opportunities. The world demand for timber could be met through maximizing output rather than taking a single product approach. ber. ' Increased public awareness and a new breed of forest managers are creating the conditions for change that may force industry and government, foresters and farmers to view the land as a resource as much as what is grown on it. "There's still a lot of money to be made exploiting the land," notes forester Gerald Myer, "and there's not a dime to be made repairing it. It's enormously shortsighted. Can't we afford healthy land?"OO While it may also be used to hasten deforestation, the current energy and economic crisis provides strong incentive for a well-balTree Talk: The People and Politics of Timber, by Ray Raphael, 1981, 287 pp., $12 from: Island Press Star Route 1 P.O. Box38 Covelo, CA 95428 Midway through writing this article I stumbled across Tree Talk in a local bookstore. In the days that followed the book became my constant companion, read between bites of food and bus stops while its margins quickly filled with notes. Raphael seemed to echo my own strongly held conviction that there is a need to move beyond the timeworn, encrusted battle lines of loggers and environmentalists. His book is an attempt to move that dialogue a step further. Speaking through the voices of old-time loggers, corporate executives, small timber · land owners, and forestry co-op members, Raphael conveys an intimate picture of the evolution of forestry. From handsaws to computers, he traces the gains and losses of modern forestry and the emergence of a new brand that blends some of the old with the . new. Vignettes on European forestry methods, and an analysis of the structural constraints of the U.S. forestry industry-private and public-offer refreshing insight into the potential and politics of this vital resource. Occasionally Raphael wanders off on tangents that may delight the history buff but interrupt the flow of his presentation. His vision of a landed forester program is somewhat stilted but rests on some significant concepts. Tree Talk stops at the vision, not attempting to tackle the strategies to set us thereanother book in itself. Instead, brief sketches of what others are attempting are offered as suggestions. Unfortunately, beyond a brief bibliography, Raphael gives no references for contacting the groups mentioned or obtaining more specific information on their work-a serious flaw. Despite this, Tree Talk provides an excellent overview of both the problems and potential of forestry and the future ·of our woods. -LS Herbicide Access An Economic Analysis ofHerbicide Use for Intensive Forest Management Part II: Critical Assessment ofArguments and Data Supporting Herbicide Use, by Jan Newton, 1979, 72 pp., $7 plus postage from: Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides P.O. Box375 Eugene, OR 97440 This is a thorough and penetrating analysis of the scientific research and economic justification supporting herbicide use. The second of a two-part report (see RAIN V:8 :7 for Part I), Jan addresses many'of the key issues · in the herbicide debates: Is conifer release effective? How do the costs of herbicides compare with manual methods? What are the assumptions behind the Allowable Cut Effect (ACE) calculations? And, are health risks for manual methods higher than those for herbicides? The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service, recently issued a 33-page rebuttal to Jan's report, but their point-bypoint critique entirely misses Jan's most iJTIportant criticism. If nothing else, she clari: · fies the need for more meticulous and long-term studies that can either disprove or prove the assumptions upon which the current herbicide program is based. Anticipating that her report would be controversial, Jan hoped that it might encourage public debate and more responsible research. It's clear that she was right on the first count; time will tell if she achieved the second. -LS Who's Poisoning America: Corporate Polluters and their Victims in the Chemical Age, edited by Ralph Nader, Ronald Berstein and John Richard, 1981, 369 pp., $12.95 from: Sierra Club Books 530 Bush Street San Francisco, CA 94108 Who's Poisoning America is an expose of the · corporate actions and attitudes responsible for widespread and increasing incidences of chemical poisoning. The book begins With an overview of the expanding power of the chemical industry since WWII, the unresponsiven.ess of government agencies, and the scope of chemical-related environmental .pollution that is rapidly reaching crisis proportions. Seven cases, written largely by the journalists 'who covered the events, document the origins of the incidents, the legal battles that ensued, the growing sense of public alarm and the victims of chemical hazards. The cases cover a wide range of chemical pollutants and geographic regions: industrial waste~ in Love Canal, New York, ,herbicide spraying in Northern California, toxic contamination of animal feed in Michigan, and occupational hazards from industrial chemical production in Virginia. In a concluding chapter entitled "We are not Helpless," Nader outlines legislative measures, local organizing strategies, and· legal methods for defending ourselves against toxic poisons and corporate irresponsibility. Who's Poisoning America is a survey, rather ~han an indept~ analysis. You'll. want to follow it up with more technical information, but what is presented is enough to grab your attention and move you to action-precisely what the authors had in mind. -LS Tool Kit: Copy It! by Cheryl Savage and Paul Merrel, 1979, 21 pp., donation requested, from: Citizens for Environmental Quality 273725A St. Clarkston, WA 99403 This short publication provides indispensable information for the novice and dedicated activist alike! What to do to stay·unsprayed, how the legal process works, how to use the media and your elected officials, where to find information on herbicides and their alternatives, and how to get organized. A short list of national and regional information helps round out the package. Like the title says-use it and copy it for a friend. -LS
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