Where did all the timber workers go?
Throughout recorded history, forestry has usually been practiced in extremes. Rarely is it a level-headed conservative approach. Through the first 6,000 years of recorded history, humans mostly just mowed down forests around them to create living and agricultural grounds. In the past couple hundred years, some level headedness has been introduced. First in the mountains of Switzerland to avoid landslides from over cutting hillsides above towns. And in the U.S., the Forest Service was formed over 100 years ago under Gifford Pinchot as a middle of the road, “wise use” management philosophy service. Over the decades, politics has taken the U.S. Forest Service from very conservative to semi-exploitative and back again. Today, all timber companies talk green and are certified “sustainable” by various agencies, but with few exceptions, they are still over-harvesting their lands.
