Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers

Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers
Author: Ronald E. Ostman
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 633
Release: 2016-09-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0271084588

In Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers, Ronald E. Ostman and Harry Littell draw on the stunning documentary photography of William T. Clarke to tell the story of Pennsylvania’s lumber heyday, a time when loggers serving the needs of a rapidly growing and globalizing country forever altered the dense forests of the state’s northern tier. Discovered in a shed in upstate New York and a barn in Pennsylvania after decades of obscurity, Clarke’s photographs offer an unprecedented view of the logging, lumbering, and wood industries during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They show the great forests in the process of coming down and the trains that hauled away the felled trees and trimmed logs. And they show the workers—cruisers, jobbers, skidders, teamsters, carpenters, swampers, wood hicks, and bark peelers—their camps and workplaces, their families, their communities. The work was demanding and dangerous; the work sites and housing were unsanitary and unsavory. The changes the newly industrialized logging business wrought were immensely important to the nation’s growth at the same time that they were fantastically—and tragically—transformative of the landscape. An extraordinary look at a little-known photographer’s work and the people and industry he documented, this book reveals, in sharp detail, the history of the third phase of lumber in America.

A Conservative Environmentalist

A Conservative Environmentalist
Author: Thomas G. Smith
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2024-06-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0271098414

A wealthy textile titan from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Frank Masland Jr. was an ardent political conservative and an equally fervent conservationist who was well known and highly respected in the mid-twentieth-century environmental preservation community. This eye-opening biography charts Masland’s life work, telling the story of how he and fellow Republicans worked with Democrats to expand the national park system, preserve wild country, and protect the environment. Though a conservative conservationist appears to be a contradiction in terms today, this was not necessarily the case when Masland and his compatriots held sway. Conservatives, Masland insisted, had a duty to be good stewards of the earth for present and future generations, and they worked closely with members of both parties in Congress and nonpolitical conservation groups to produce landmark achievements. When conservatives turned against environmentalism during the Reagan presidency, Masland refused to join what historians have termed the “Republican reversal.” During his long life of nearly a hundred years, Masland used his voice, influence, experiences with nature, and considerable wealth to champion environmental causes at the national, state, and local levels. Engaging, informative, and at times eyebrow-raising, this portrait of a passionately anti-statist nature-loving Republican environmentalist documents the history of the twentieth-century conservation movement and reminds us of a time when conservative Republicans could work with liberal Democrats to protect the environment.

Crafting Log Homes Solar Style

Crafting Log Homes Solar Style
Author: Rex A. Ewing
Publisher: PixyJack Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2008
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0977372448

"A hands-on guide to building solar-powered log homes, complete with how-to illustrations and photos, plus profiles of log home owners from across the United States. Topics includes log home construction, solar and wind energy, home heating options, pumping water, costs to consider, and Web resources"--Provided by publisher.

Wars in the Woods

Wars in the Woods
Author: Samuel P. Hays
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2006-11-17
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 082297312X

Wars in the Woods examines the conflicts that have developed over the preservation of forests in America, and how government agencies and advocacy groups have influenced the management of forests and their resources for more than a century. Samuel Hays provides an astute analysis of manipulations of conservation law that have touched off a battle between what he terms "ecological forestry" and "commodity forestry." Hays also reveals the pervading influence of the wood products industry, and the training of U.S. Forest Service to value tree species marketable as wood products, as the primary forces behind forestry policy since the Forest Management Act of 1897. Wars in the Woods gives a comprehensive account of the many grassroots and scientific organizations that have emerged since then to combat the lumber industry and other special interest groups and work to promote legislation to protect forests, parks, and wildlife habitats. It also offers a review of current forestry practices, citing the recent Federal easing of protections as a challenge to the progress made in the last third of the twentieth century. Hays describes an increased focus on ecological forestry in areas such as biodiversity, wildlife habitat, structural diversity, soil conservation, watershed management, native forests, and old growth. He provides a valuable framework for the critical assessment of forest management policies and the future study and protection of forest resources.

The Mountains-to-Sea Trail Across North Carolina: Walking a Thousand Miles through Wildness, Culture and History

The Mountains-to-Sea Trail Across North Carolina: Walking a Thousand Miles through Wildness, Culture and History
Author: Danny Bernstein
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2013-02-19
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1614238758

The Mountains-to-Sea Trail shows off the most spectacular, historic and quirky elements of the North Carolina landscape. Stretching one thousand miles from Clingmans Dome in the Smokies to Jockey's Ridge State Park in the Outer Banks, the route takes in Fraser fir trees and pelicans, old grist and textile mills, working cotton and tobacco farms, Revolutionary War sites and two British cemeteries complete with Union Jacks. The trail is half on footpaths and half on back roads, offering experiences not only in nature but also in small towns, at historic monuments, in family cemeteries and in local shops. Author Danny Bernstein has taken it all in and shares her knowledge for those who might follow in her footsteps.