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Connecting curious minds with uncommon, undeniably Northwest reads

New Book Reveals Just How Close Pacific NW Forests Came to Extinction

Black and white photo showing trucks hauling cuts of large old growth trees

Gifford Pinchot, chief of the United States Forest Service (USFS) from 1905 to 1910, marveled at the Cascades’ old growth forests—yet today it is difficult to find one like those Pinchot saw. Instead, by mid-century the USFS dramatically increased allowable timber industry logging for all national forests and began replacing ancient forests with younger, faster-growing trees. By 1990 less than 13% of the Pacific Northwest’s original old growth remained, and projected USFS plans were to log most of the unprotected remnant by 2023. A new book, Forest Under Siege: The Story of Old Growth After Gifford Pinchot, by longtime environmental activist Rand Schenck, offers an account of old growth in the Pacific Northwest, told primarily through the lens of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest (GPNF).

Schenck owns a GPNF recreation cabin located in one of the best-preserved low elevation old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. “I began to ponder why the old growth was preserved around my cabin, yet so little remained everywhere else. I realized that by focusing on one particular national forest, I could tell a story that would make concrete what for many is very abstract: how old growth was viewed by foresters, why they cut almost all of it down, and now what can be and is being done to restore it,” he says. In order to trace 100 years of Pacific Northwest forestry, the author reviewed numerous USFS documents and reports. He also interviewed industry leaders, timber war stakeholders, and prominent environmentalists. What he found reveals just how close regional forests came to extinction. He describes why the USFS moved away from decades of stewardship to relentless and unsustainable harvest, the consequences of intensive management, and why attempts to replant trees failed. He explores how laws like the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act, surprise discoveries following a volcanic eruption, and the Northwest Forest Plan slowly initiated change. He explains how gradually, a new ecological approach to forest management—one that has the potential to set a strong foundation for forests in the next century to again be dominated by old growth—evolved. As part of this realigned perspective, scientists discovered that on a per acre basis, Pacific Northwest forests sequester and store more carbon than any other forests in the world.

Schenck also provides a much-needed corrective on the environmental community’s understanding of Gifford Pinchot. Many wrongly assume that he approved the singular emphasis on “getting the cut out,” but as a lifelong Progressive, Pinchot cared deeply about small, rural communities close to national forests and wanted sustainable logging practices that those populations could depend on to provide jobs far into the future. Finally, Schenck reviews efforts to restore the damage and offers hope for old growth rebirth.

Cover of Forest Under Siege

About the author:

Rand Schenck began his forestry focused environmental activism in the late 1970s at the Sierra Club, where over the next 15 years he served in a variety of leadership roles. While there, his major objective was increasing the amount of public lands designated as wilderness. After moving to Oregon in 1996, he joined the Board of Oregon Natural Resources Council (now Oregon Wild) and continued his dedication to environmental causes, working to protect Oregon’s forests, wild waters, and wildlife. Over the past decade, Rand has shifted his involvement to concentrate on climate change. He helped found the grassroots nonprofit, 350PDX, and then Mobilizing Climate Action Together (MCAT), an all-volunteer group sponsored by the Oregon League of Conservation Voters that focuses on climate change policy with the Oregon Legislature and the Executive Branch. Rand leads MCAT’s Forestry and Natural Lands branch. His team seeks to implement climate smart forestry that optimizes carbon sequestration and storage by protecting mature and old growth trees, growing trees longer, and ensuring a diversity of species, ages and structures.

Professionally, Rand spent much of his career focused on helping large organizations be more humane and successful through executive coaching, building beneficial cultures, managing organizational change, and developing effective leadership. He has a BA in History an MA in Recreation Administration, and a Masters of Social Work. Now retired, he has even more time to spend hiking and backpacking in the forests he loves, as well as enjoying many other benefits of Pacific Northwest living—skiing, rafting, canoeing, and sea kayaking.

Come and enjoy our 30th Annual HOLIDAY BOOK FAIR!

3 photos: a wrapped gift, a display of books, and snow on a branch with berries

DATES

December 8, 2021 from 11 am – 3 pm in the Terrell Library Atrium on the Pullman campus!

Festivities include steep discounts of 20-50% on all titles, drawings for free books, and complimentary refreshments.

Sale prices will also be valid for phone and online orders during the online Holiday Book Fair timeline, December 6 – 12, 2021, but you can start your browsing now!

SALE DETAILS

The fair highlights books published throughout the year. With every $45 purchase (pre-tax), choose one of these four books from our FREE book table! For qualifying online orders, the option to select one of the four free books will be available at checkout.

If you’re nearby, you can save on shipping. Stop at the Cooper Publications Building on the Pullman campus to pick up your order between 9AM and 4PM on Friday, December 10th, and Monday, December 13th, or request a convenient time. Just choose Pullman pickup when you check out, and indicate in the notes the day and time you expect to arrive.

As usual, shipping is free on orders above $50.

NEW TITLES

The fair features new titles on a variety of subjects, and all are 30% off! Psychiana Man is a biography of Moscow, Idaho’s mail order religious prophet, Coming Home to Nez Perce Country, traces the Nez Perce struggle to regain their exploited heritage.  Echoes of Exclusion and Resistance examines Manhattan Project-era racism in the Tri-Cities. Pull Hard! is a history of WSU’s rowing club. Outside Looking In explores political incivility in state legislatures, Teaching Native Pride looks at the Upward Bound program at the University of Idaho, Rocky’s Rail shares a Spokane railroader’s experiences, and Butch’s Game Day offers a celebration of Cougar game days for kids.

EBOOKS

We have added new titles to our selection of Ebooks, discounted and available for download!

Founded in 1928 and revitalized in the 1980s, WSU Press concentrates on telling unique, focused stories about the Northwest. For information about the book fair, contact WSU Press at 509-335-7880.

Our 29th Annual Holiday Book Fair is going virtual!

Sign that reads WSU PRESS HOLIDAY BOOK FAIR

DATES

Now extended through December 13! Sale prices will be valid for phone and online orders throughout Holiday Book Fair timeline, December 1 – 13, 2020, but you can start your browsing now!

COUPON CODE

Use coupon code HBF2020 at checkout to receive 30% off on all titles in your order!

SALE DETAILS

The fair highlights books published throughout the year. With every $45 purchase (pre-tax), choose one free book from our FREE book selection. Simply fill out the form, or wait for us to send you an email.

If you’re nearby, you can save on shipping. Stop at the Cooper Publications Building on the Pullman campus to pick up your order between 9AM and 4PM on Thursday, December 10th, Monday, December 14th, Thursday, and December 17th, or request a convenient time. Just choose Pullman pickup when you check out, and indicate in the notes the day and time you expect to arrive.

As usual, shipping is free on orders above $50.

NEW TITLES

The fair features new titles on a variety of subjects—a natural and environmental history of Mount Rainier, how Ezra Meeker saved the Oregon Trail, how explorers and fur traders influenced Lewis and Clark, legacies the Manhattan Project left behind, Idaho’s World War II Japanese incarceration, the marketing behind early 19oos West Coast fairs, and Butch T. Cougar’s superhero ways.

EBOOKS

Also new this year is a selection of Ebooks, 30% off and available for download!

Founded in 1928 and revitalized in the 1980s, WSU Press concentrates on telling unique, focused stories about the Northwest. For information about the book fair, contact WSU Press at 509-335-7880.

To Honor Our Heroes

photo of Doc Wright sitting at a desk n his office, circa 1906

To honor our health care professionals and other essential frontline workers during this trying time, we are posting a chapter from Rugged Mercy, about a western frontier doctor who exemplified rugged courage and devoted compassion, and who—like our modern heroes—risked his own life on multiple occasions. We hope you enjoy reading.

The photo above, taken in the early 1900s, shows Dr. Wright in his office.

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WSU Press is Open and Accepting Orders

Front door of WSU's Cooper Publicatons Building

Thank you for your business. We deeply appreciate our customers! First and foremost, we hope you are all staying well during these difficult circumstances. Our warehouse is right across the hall from our offices, so although our front office is closed and we have mostly transitioned to working remotely, we are still processing and shipping orders twice a week as we normally do.

We also appreciate your support of the local independent bookstores who are so important to our success. If your store doesn’t have an online option, you can check out bookshop.org, a new online bookstore with a mission to financially support independent bookstores and give back to the book community. Affiliate bookstores earn 25% direct commission for any sales they generate on the site. For non-affiliate bookstore sales, 10% goes to an overall earnings pool that is evenly divided and distributed to stores every six months.

Thanks again and keep on reading!

Recent copies of “Sagebrush Homesteads” missing pages

A thoughtful reader recently alerted WSU Press to missing pages in her copy of Sagebrush Homesteads. We narrowed the cause to a scanning failure that created a deficient printing file. Unfortunately, although older copies are intact, this means that all the copies from our most recent print run—about 500—have the issue. Please accept our deepest apologies for the error.

If you have purchased a flawed copy, please contact us for a free replacement. We will provide a new print copy, and/or a complete PDF. For your convenience, the six missing pages are available to read and view below, and as a free download (select the missing pages option under FORMAT) on the Sagebrush Homesteads product page.

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WSU Press book by University of Idaho cultural anthropologist wins prestigious Evans Handcart Award

Carry Forth the Stories cover

PULLMAN, Wash.— Author and ethnographer Dr. Rodney Frey has won the Evans Handcart Award for his book, Carry Forth the Stories: An Ethnographer’s Journey into Native Oral Tradition published by Washington State University Press. Recently announced by Utah State University’s Mountain West Center for Regional Studies, the prize recognizes the best of research and writing in biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs focusing on stories of people who have shaped the character of the Interior West. “The high quality and diversity of submissions made it a challenge for the regional and national juries to select only two winners,” said Evelyn Funda, director of the Mountain West Center.

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Arctic Explorer’s Story Finally Told

Ernest Leffingwell with sled dogs

As a member of the 1906 Anglo-American Polar Expedition, Arctic explorer Ernest deKoven Leffingwell (1875–1971) helped determine the edge of the continental shelf—the first solid evidence that searching for land north of Alaska was likely futile. The University of Chicago-trained geologist remained on Flaxman Island, and with assistance from his indigenous neighbors, was the first to define and chart the geography and geology of the region. His groundbreaking work included creating detailed, accurate maps of Alaska’s northeast coast (now part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), pioneering studies of ground ice (permafrost), explaining ice wedges, and identifying the Sadlerochit Formation, Prudhoe Bay oilfield’s main reservoir. He also observed birds and collected wildlife specimens for the Smithsonian and other institutions. “One hundred years later we’re still rediscovering things he discovered,” permafrost expert and consultant Torre Jorgenson commented.

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Memoir Describes Life for Women During WWII Occupation

Washington State University Press has released a World War II memoir written by Nicole Taflinger. Unusual because it relates struggles faced by ordinary French citizens, it also provides insight into challenges that arise when different cultures collide. Written for her children decades ago, the author’s guileless voice enhances her adolescent memories of the German occupation—an existence of fear, loss, suffering, and fierce hatred—and illustrates the immense emotional toll of war.

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Science with a Contemporary Twist

What did a new kind of MRI reveal about the hearts of older male fitness fanatics? How did an unsavory kitchen blender help save the lives of monkeys in the Bronx Zoo? Why might it be better to buy eggs from your local supermarket? What salt-favoring menace lurks in hospitals and beach sand? Which ancient crop might solve modern problems?

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