cover image Tree Huggers: Victory Defeat and Renewal in the Northwest Ancient Forest Campaign

Tree Huggers: Victory Defeat and Renewal in the Northwest Ancient Forest Campaign

Kathie Durbin. Mountaineers Books, $24.95 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-89886-488-5

Freelance environmental journalist Durbin has written a compelling but one-sided view of the fight over the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest. Well represented in her book are the leaders of many of the most important local environmental groups such as the Oregon Natural Resources Council, Save America's Forests and the Western Ancient Forest Campaign. Missing are interviews with leaders of the wood-products industry and members of congress who take a conservative approach toward preserving these ancient ecosystems. Disappointingly, the book is much more a chronicle of events than an analysis of their significance. Rather than probe for reasons behind what she views as President Clinton's anti-environmental actions, Durbin simply writes: ""Disregarding pleas from environmentalists, President Clinton inexplicably signed this `logging without laws' measure."" Nonetheless, a good deal of interesting material is packed into these pages, including descriptions of tensions between national and local environmental groups and the role that major charitable groups (Pew Charitable Trust, the Rockefeller and Bullitt foundations) have played in shaping grassroots political strategies. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)