Customer Reviews

The Appalachian Forest, A Search For Roots and Renewal

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is easily the best book on the forests of the Appalachian Mountains I have ever read. It educates the reader in depth about the human and natural history and the ecology of this most fascinating and diverse of North American forests. At the same time, the book is so well researched and written that the reader is held riveted from the first sentence to the final word. I couldn't put it down.

The chapter about the American chestnut--the finest treatment of this subject I have seen--gives to the majority of us who took little notice of what we lost when the chestnut died out an understanding of the true scope of that tragedy. Then the reader is given hope that, through the work of a few dedicated botanists, the chestnut may again grace these beautiful mountains and valleys and coves with its presence and bless their inhabitants with its bounty.

Equally thorough treatments of other species of trees, of various forms of wildlife, of the forest as a whole, and of the people who have lived there occur throughout the book. Anyone even remotely interested in the natural treasures of our land must read The Appalachian Forest.

In her book The Appalachian Forest, Chris Bolgiano has successfully combined a natural history essay with a textbook on forestry as she looks at the once and future Southern forest. Throughout, she weaves her personal experience of the woods with a bigger investigation of this tract of public forest, which stretches more or less contiguously from Virginia and West Virginia, through Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas before it wraps up in Georgia. As she explores mankind's love-hate relationship with the forest, she uncovers both the checkered heritage of the Scots-Irish pioneers and the spiritual intertwining of the Cherokees as each culture defined its existence within the Appalachian Mountains. Profiles of all the forests, parks and recreation areas as well as those people important to the past, present and future of the forest are informative and serve to explain the evolution of this land's management and purpose since arriving in the public domain. But chapters on the chestnut and black bears are more enriching as they explore the very soul of one of the world's most biologically diverse temperate forests. A glimpse of the future, one filled with unanswered problems and possible solutions, leaves the reader in awe of a landscape that must not be allowed to disappear into the mists of development and mismanagement. An extensive bibliography, index and scattered photographs only serve to add to the credibility of this very thorough work.

I thought this book had several very interesting chapters and a few chapters with a bit too much literary license. The transplanted writer was trying to get the inside perpective of Applachian life. Overall I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to readers interested in history and foresty.

I am enjoying this book quite a bit. I have wanted to learn about the Appalachians and have seen other books that were more "text-bookish" and could never quite get into them. This book has a pleasant narrative style and a personal story as well. For me, this makes it easier to get lost in. I would recommend it. Why not 5 stars? While 85% of the book is fantastic, some of the info is a bit questionable, and, honestly, some is almost laughable. For instance: she tells the story of how she clear-cut her own land, selling off the timber to make space for her home. I suppose in order to appease her liberal friends - and perhaps herself - she has to paint a picture of herself sick with pain over the nature's great loss, she is running in front of the bulldozers to shew away the wildlife, angry at the inhumanity of the men who came to do the job and vomiting (or was it mere heaving?, I don't remember now) from the agony of seeing nature vexed so. A-hem - woman, am I missing something? Wasn't this your land and didn't you sell the trees? Anyway, you get the picture. If you can get past those paragraphs and still take it seriously you will not be disappointed by the fascinating story you will learn. I was glad that I found it.

I thought this book had several very interesting chapters and a few chapters with a bit too much literary license. The transplanted writer was trying to get the inside perpective of Applachian life. Overall I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to readers interested in history and foresty.

As a professional forester in Appalachia, I was enthralled by the historical perspectives presented in this book, and appalled by some of the statements the author made. The obvious and uninformed anti-logging approach to the national forests of Appalachia sounds really good, but come to the Daniel Boone and you will understand what devastation this has brought us. Uncontrollable wildfires, outbreaks of insects that threaten whole habitats and species, and economic hardships on an already depressed area. Management of our forests for multiple uses is essential. At the same time, the author interviews and praises the wife of a logger who brags about diameter limit cutting, which is just a fancy name for high-grading, which further degrades the forest.

If this topic interests you, read the first couple of chapters, and then move on. The rest of the book is the same old droll that the public is barraged with on a daily basis. This book sure had potential.