Spasmodic research as executive duties permit: Space, practice, and the localization of forest management expertise in British Columbia, 1912-1928

Journal of Historical Geography

Volume 52, April 01, 2016, Pages 36-47

 (Article)

Brownstein, D. 

 

Klahanie Research Ltd., 7-2160 W 39th Ave, Vancouver, BC, Canada 

View references (69)

Abstract

What are the mechanisms by which local knowledge spreads across space? By focusing on the methods that British Columbia foresters used to learn of the province's trees, we see that the Forest Branch performed the scientific work necessary to localize management models for use in a new place. With little authority and vulnerable to outside criticism, the Branch had to generate quality knowledge that would withstand the scrutiny of a powerful but fractious industry reluctant to submit to regulation. It also had to satisfy a general public becoming increasingly horrified by a landscape peppered with clearcuts growing in size. The urgency of forest regeneration problems in a context of increased logging pressured the Branch to transform its research from a spasmodic shared burden to the exclusive activity of a few individuals. Such centralization coincided with the birth of non-governmental forest policy critics, the societies and associations that would rail against forest management practices for decades to come. This necessitated a transformed structure from a dispersed, egalitarian network to a more centralized activity. These findings confirm observations regarding the spread of nineteenth-century environmental concerns, stress how unique ecologies constrained and shaped forestry more than simplified histories suggest, and contradict the assumption that German forestry science was hegemonic by the end of the nineteenth century. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.

Author keywords

British Columbia; Canada; Forestry; Historical geography of science; Localization; Natural history

Indexed keywords

GEOBASE Subject Index: forest management; forestry; forestry policy; historical geography; knowledge; logging (timber); management practice; regeneration; research; twentieth century

Regional Index: British Columbia; Canada

ISSN: 03057488Source Type: Journal Original language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhg.2016.01.001Document Type: Article

Publisher: Academic Press

References (69)

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  Brownstein, D.; Klahanie Research Ltd., 7-2160 W 39th Ave, Canada; email:info@klahanieresearch.ca
© Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.