Strong Winds and Widow Makers: Workers, Nature, and Environmental Conflict in Pacific Northwest Timber Country

by Steven C. Beda

Winner of the 2022 Philip Taft Labor History Book Prize

Often cast as villains in the Northwest's environmental battles, timber workers in fact have a connection to the forest that goes far beyond jobs and economic issues. Steven C. Beda explores the complex true story of how and why timber-working communities have concerned themselves with the health and future of the woods surrounding them. Life experiences like hunting, fishing, foraging, and hiking imbued timber country with meanings and values that nurtured a deep sense of place in workers, their families, and their communities. This sense of place in turn shaped ideas about protection that sometimes clashed with the views of environmentalists--or the desires of employers. Beda's sympathetic, in-depth look at the human beings whose lives are embedded in the woods helps us understand that timber communities fought not just to protect their livelihood, but because they saw the forest as a vital part of themselves.

296 pages, Hardcover

Published December 13, 2022

Reviews

[Kayla Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beda provides great insight into the cultural nuances between labor movements and environmental movements. The immense attention to detail in the ways that timber workers of the 20th century asserted their autonomy from companies in addition to their reliance on the forest throughout the century provides an incredibly important contextualization to an analysis of the infamous spotted owl conflict.

[Deirdre Collins]

this was one of my favorite books for the envs hist class

[Maggie Kirwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

best book i've had to read for a class. honestly gives an entire different perspective on conservation and environmentalism.