Forestry - EEH

Exploring Environmental History Podcast in its latest issue paid attention to the history of forests and forestry. (feed)

Specifically the effects of World War One were discussed with David Brownstein of the University of British Columbia. Brownstein points out that over WWI Canadian foresters came to Europe to serve the war effort. The war created a huge need of timber, much larger than in peace time and also much larger than the allies could supply to themselves. Normally they's get wood from the colonies, but with the U-boot threat, it was not as easy to ship all that timber.

The foresters from Canada were moved to Europe to get what little timber from England and France could be extracted. Here Europe and British Columbia began to influence each other. The Canadian foresters were learned to pay attention to and invest in replenishing the forest. Their own forests were considered to be so large replanting was not considered necessary, whereas in Europe this was standard. Once they learned the way to collect seeds, seeds from conifers from Canada became so abundant, they made it all over the world.

More Exploring Environmental History:
Exploring Environmental History (EEH podcast),
Volcanoes in European History,
Environmental History in the Middle Ages,
New weeds in Africa,
Biological invasions and transformations.