ABSTRACT

This chapter provides several definitions of timber dependent communities and looks at how their status as corporate satellites influences their prosperity and future. Some consideration is also given to the social stratification of these communities. Particular attention is given to the social consequences of economic concentration and related trends such as a shift from labor to capital intensity in the diverse and segmented industry. The chapter examines the regulation of public forest lands in the United States and the development of state and federal agencies to oversee the use of the forests. It focuses on present forest resources in the United States and the dramatic history of timber harvesting and throughout North America. While rural communities traditionally harvested and processed timber for local consumption, the growth of large producers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century substantially altered this practice.