Giant redwoods are American icons, paragons of grandeur, exceptionalism,
and endurance. They are also symbols of conflict and negotiation,
remnants of environmental battles over the limits of industrialization,
profiteering, and globalization.
Since the middle of the nineteenth century, logging operations have
eaten away at the redwood forest, particularly areas covered by ancient
giant redwoods. Today, such trees occupy a mere 120,000 acres. Their
existence is testimony to the efforts of activists to rescue some of
these giants from destruction. Very few conservation battles have
endured longer or with more violence than on the North Coast of
California, behind what locals call the Redwood Curtain.
Defending Giants explores the long history of the Redwood Wars,
focusing on the ways rural Americans fought for control over both North
Coast society and its forests. Activists defended these trees not only
because the redwood forest had dwindled in size, but also because, by
the late twentieth century, the local economy was increasingly dominated
by multinational corporations. The resulting conflict--the Redwood
Wars--pitted workers and environmental activists against the rising tide
of globalization and industrial logging in a complex war over endangered
species, sustainable forestry, and, of course, the fate of the last
ancient redwoods. Activists perched in trees and filed lawsuits, while
the timber industry, led by Pacific Lumber, fought the lawsuits and used
their power to halt reform efforts. Ultimately, the Clinton
administration sidestepped Congress and the courts to negotiate an
innovative compromise. In the process, the Redwood Wars transformed
American environmental politics by shifting the balance of power away
from Congress and into the hands of the executive branch.
