forest

06/01/1989
The Case for Eastern Old-Growth
An unusually old and large chestnut oak in the George Washington National Forest.
An unusually old and large chestnut oak in the George Washington National Forest.

View full essay in PDF format

“The Case for Eastern Old-Growth” was published in American Forests, May/June 1989.

This is the first article to raise the issue of new old-growth in the formerly deforested East.

“Long …

03/01/1994
The Great Forest
Creek in the Monongahela National Forest, WV
Creek in the Monongahela National Forest, WV

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“The Great Forest” was published in the Wilderness Magazine, spring 1994.

“Rage is not the politically correct emo­tion to feel in an old growth forest. Awe, veneration, respect, humility­, these are expected. But I want to …

08/01/1998
The Appalachian Forest: A Search for Roots and Renewal

The Appalachian Forest: A Search for Roots and Renewal, published by Stackpole Books, 1998.

More than a biological overview, The Appalachian Forest is also an exploration of Appalachian life and its many contradictions, including the poverty of a region so rich in natural resources. From Cherokees to bear hunters,

07/01/2002
Living in the Appalachian Forest: True Tales of Sustainable Forestry

Living in the Appalachian Forest: True Tales of Sustainable Forestry, Stackpole Books, 2002. 

From a tattooed ex-con logger to the Republican president of the Sierra Club, from industrial strength timbering to the delicate art of virtually wild forest herb gardening, this book examines the people and the practices that

02/01/2020
Forest Forensics: Clues in the woods to historic crimes against nature, and the consequences today
An abandoned winch on my property is a clue to the historic deforestation of the Southern Appalachian Mountains from approximately 1880-1930.
An abandoned winch on my property is a clue to the historic deforestation of the Southern Appalachian Mountains from approximately 1880-1930.

“Forest Forensics” was first published in October of 2019 in Blue Ridge Outdoors Online then republished in Rewilding Earth in February 2020.  

“There are no bodies, no police tape, no cluster …