Book dossier

Community and the Northwestern logger

by Matthew S. Carroll

In this book, Matthew Carroll examines the economic and social circumstances of northwestern U.S. loggers in the face of shifts in environmental politics, dramatic reductions in timber harvest levels on federal lands, and changing technology and market forces - among other factors that are rapidly transforming their industry, their livelihoods, and their communities. Drawing upon sociological fieldwork in logging communities that he conducted at various times over a period of nearly a decade and using the spotted owl-old growth controversy as a case study, Carroll provides a rich and detailed picture of life among northwestern loggers. He lays out the human dimensions and dilemmas of the timber crisis. Expanding it from the oversimplified owl-versus-logger confrontation, he puts these issues in a historical and policy context and suggests parallels to other controversies such as public grazing and federal or state river protection. Carroll's work revives the concept of occupational community and shows ways it can be used to understand the dynamics of rural occupations linked to resource extraction.