From the Redwood Forest : Ancient Trees and the Bottom Line: A Headwaters Journey

by Joan Dunning, Doug Thron (Photographer)

Naturalist Joan Dunning was about to embark on a new literary venture that promised to put her in a kayak in the Sea of Cortez surrounded by dolphins. By coincidence, she attended a slide show put on by Doug Thron, a young activist who has devoted his adult life to capturing photographic images of the ancient redwood groves known as the Headwaters.Not long after seeing Thron's presentation, Dunning was slogging through muddy clearcuts and camping illegally on timber company land, agreeing to help Thron tell the story of a desperate collision between business and the environment.From the Redwood Forest will affect readers in a variety of ways. Some will be outraged that a short-sighted, profit-driven enterprise such as Maxxam would lay waste to trees that pre-date the birth of Christ in order to make payments on junk bonds. Others will be moved by Dunning's eloquent requiem for ecosystems despoiled by humans with massive equipment, or be angered at the way regular people, who have historically looked to the forest industry for their livelihoods, are sidelined in the media cross-fire between environmentalists and absentee landowners. Still others will draw inspiration from the courage and persistence of young activists like Thron, who courageously take on the corporate Goliath.

Genres: Nonfiction, Ecology, Nature

272 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs, good history of the entire Headwaters Forest conflict. Reading this clarified the issues surrounding the Headwaters deal for me. I especially liked the map, which I referred to over and over again. I did find some parts a little touchy feely, but it didn't bother me too much. I liked the illustrations.

It was published in 1998 and life has marched on since then. I know where the current headwaters forest is and what the BLM management is like. I would like to know what has happened to the other groves - Allen, Shaw, Owl Creek, and All-species. I would also love to know what the outcomes of some of the lawsuits were. I looked online, but a preliminary search did not turn up much. I feel like there probably is an update somewhere...

[Heather Hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the way she writes about the spiritual nature of the redwood groves and her personal journey to get to know each one and learn the history of the area. Reading this 20 years after it was written, I know that some of what they were fighting for was saved and I'm glad for that, but it's so much less than what should have been protected (7500 acres out of the 60,000 that constituted the entire watershed). It is a heartbreaking but beautiful book.

[Dayna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a luminous read!
From the words on the page to the lovely black and white drawings, this is a beautifully written telling of the fight to save Headwaters. I enjoyed this much more than Defending Giants, but they would be good to read together as Speece's book is much more recent.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much of a hippie leaning for me to really get into this book. The actual information provided about Headwaters and the various sides is well presented, but there isn't a lot of it. The author writes about initially being a bit put off or maybe uncomfortable about the Earth First! ers and their ilk but doesn't consider that her crunchy, granola like personality wouldn't be off-putting to others. I don't want to pray to "gaia" and hug trees. I dig trees and whole ecosystems but giving thanks and bowing my head to grandmother tree and all of that is goofy to me. Bringing in Julia "Butterfly" also put me off. Heard her speak, she sounds like a flake. What she did was tremendous, in terms of her tree sit, but more hippie-ness! Ugh!

[Stephanie Teek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written book about the Pacific Northwest redwood groves that are continually under threat by logging companies. Contains information about the species (some endangered) that call the redwoods home, the people who cut them down and the people who are struggling to save them.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feel all the feelings. Hug all the trees.