Term
| Human attitudes toward forests can be broadly broken up into 4 categories. What are these categories and give an example of each category? |
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Definition
| The first category is reverence, such as the Ancient Egyptians treating sycamores as a sacred religious symbol because it was seen as the earthly form of the sky god. The second category is fear, such as the medical condition of hylophobia, which is a fear of forests. The third category is impediments to agricultural development, meaning some people would rather use the land occupied by forests for agriculture. The fourth attitude is exploitation for economic gain, such as the illegal logging that exists today. |
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Term
| Forests have and continue to provide humans many things. List 3 things that humans use or collect from forests. |
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Definition
| Humans collect materials used for medicines, building, and paper. |
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Term
| What is the Snorra-Edda and what is its link to forests? |
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Definition
| It was an old Icelandic document that taught people how to write poems, but it had a prologue that described the creation of the world. It describes the god Oden giving humans breathe from two tree branches and how the first men come from an ash tree and women from an elm. |
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Term
| Describe 1 symbolism that either a tree or a plant found growing in a forest had for past societies? |
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Definition
| In Ancient Egypt the Sycamore tree represented the earthly embodiment of the sky god. |
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Term
| Which country has a tree on its flag and what is the common name of the tree: |
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Definition
| Lebanon has a cedar tree on its flag. |
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Term
| List and define 2 terms in forestry that were derived from the Roman god of forests, groves and wild fields? |
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Definition
| Silvical means “of or pertaining to forests or foresty.” Silviculture is the art of cultivating a forest. |
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Term
| Fear of forests have been given psychological terms. List and define two of these terms? Why are people afraid of forests? Based on the Harris poll in 1999, what 2 groups of people are the most afraid of forests? |
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Definition
| Hylophobia is the fear of forests. Nyclohylophobia is a fear of dark wooded areas of forests at night. Women and people with a high school or lower education are the two groups most afraid of forests. |
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Term
| Why do fairy tales read aloud to children contribute towards making them afraid of forests? |
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Definition
| Many fairy tales involve frightening events occurring in forests, such as Hansel and Gretel getting lost in the woods. |
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Term
| What is the importance of The Epic of Gilgamesh and why is this epic linked to forests? Did the King of Sumer own the forests discussed in the epic? |
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Definition
| The story describes Gilgamesh, king of Sumer, who killed Humbaba, the demon guardian of the cedar trees and the Mesopotamian forest, so he could get to the trees. The story describes the over-exploitation of the forest. The king did not own the forest, he went in and took the wood from a foreign land. |
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Term
| What is the significance of the Epic of Gilgamesh occurring during the Bronze Age? How different do the current forests look like compared to what was described in the Epic? |
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Definition
| Wood was burned to heat up metals to make bronze tools. In the Epic the trees are huge and now the trees are much smaller and skinnier. |
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Term
| What qualities and uses of wood led early civilizations (e.g., Sumerians) to value it? |
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Definition
| Wood was used as a building material in the widespread carpentry shops and to build houses. It was also burned to heat up metals so tools could be made. |
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Term
| Besides loss of forest resources, how did deforestation contribute to the decline of the Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia? Why was this change detrimental to this civilization? |
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Definition
| Deforestation causes erosion and the erosion of salt-rich sedimentary rocks, which gets into the water and makes it hard for plants to grow. This salinization created a huge decline in crop yields so there was not enough food for all the people. |
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Term
| What caused the collapse of the civilization living on Easter Island? Was the collapse of the civilization on Easter Island due to their fighting over control of limited resources found on an island? Explain your answer. What was the role of wood in this collapse? |
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Definition
| Instead of fighting there was a rivalry between 11 or 12 clans to build big rock heads. To move the heads wood was used to build massive sleds and wooden skids. Tree bark was used to make ropes. They also needed wood for cremation, cooking and canoes. They ran out of timber because of deforestation so they did not have wood to repair canoes or replace canoes, which impeded them from obtaining dolphins to eat. Also deforestation led to soil erosion and damage. |
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Term
| What role did religion have in starting the large scale clearing of forests in Europe during the Middle Ages? Did forests have any value to the nobles who owned forests at this time? |
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Definition
| Forests had little role at the time to nobles so much of the land was given to the Catholic Church. They hoped the monks would clear and tame much of those lands. The Benedictine monks began much of the deforestation. These monks would spread out, clear the forests for monasteries and move on to new land and do the same thing as populations filled up the cleared land. |
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Term
| What was the role of religion in forest management in the Middle Ages in Europe? Name 2 practices that monks developed |
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Definition
| Monks began to recognize the wood scarcity in Europe and enacted management principles. The monks of the Vallombrosan Order decided to preserve forests located on terrain that was too tough to farm and to prepare cut-over sites for seeding. |
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Term
| What does the need to manage forests by coppicing or pollarding say about the supply capacity of a forest to continue to provide resources or products to European societies during the Middle Ages? Why would these two practices increase the supply of forest materials? |
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Definition
| The need to do this says that just cutting down trees without regard was not sustainable. These practices increase the resources because instead of waiting for an entirely new tree to form people could just wait for multiple sprouts. |
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Term
| What is the relationship between forests and 1) Robin Hood in the 11th century England and 2) the 1994-1998 civil conflicts in Rwanda? |
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Definition
| Robin Hood took refuge in the forest, using it as an asylum. During the civil conflicts in Rwanda people used the forests as safe havens to escape the violence. |
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Term
| What explains the low percent (4%) of global forests being located in Europe today? What was the primary factor that drove European countries to begin this period of colonization and dominance of other regions of the world starting in 1200 CE? |
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Definition
| People were afraid of the forests and didn’t value them so their response was to cut the forests down. Wood was needed to build and used in foundries, but European countries used up their wood quickly so they decided to take the wood from other countries. |
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Term
| Which European country started its colonization of other regions of the world before its neighbors and what technology did they invent? If this country had not developed this technology, what were the implications for people who needed to travel and lived in the neighboring countries? |
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Definition
| The Portuguese were the first to start colonizing because they invented ships, which gave them a better chance of traveling safely. If the ship had not been invented, travelers in open waters would not have had a good chance of returning home and bringing goods back with them. Navigation tools also aided in this purpose of more reliable travel. Without these technologies the consequences would have been extremely long voyages, shipwrecks, commercial losses, unplanned voyages and less chance of returning home. |
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Term
| What is the relationship between the island of Madeira, Portuguese ship building, Madeira wine and the American colonies? |
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Definition
| Portugal got its wood from the island of Madeira. When they cut down the trees, the Portuguese planted grapes to produce wine. Since no wine quality grapes grew in the 13 colonies the American colonists consumed a lot of Madeira wine. |
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Term
| Why was Henry VIII responsible for wide scale deforestation in England in early 1500 CE? What 2 industries led to the deforestation of England during the time of Henry VIII? |
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Definition
| Henry VIII had the goal of developing a first class Navy in England to fight against his many enemies. Building ships required a lot of wood which led to a great deal of deforestation. The arms industry also used up a lot of wood because the wood was burned to heat metals. |
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Term
| How many oak trees were needed to build a new wooden ship and to repair it during Henry VIII’s time? Why did these ships need to be repaired? Why was the British Empire excited about expanding into the Asian tropics and what did it have to do with building ships? |
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Definition
| It took 2,000 oak trees to build one ship. These ships needed to be repaired since they would get banged up in battle. They were excited about expanding into Asia because the forests there contained Teak trees that were resistant to fungi, insects and shipworms. |
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Term
| What was the broad arrow policy and how did it contribute to the American Revolution? |
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Definition
| The Privy Council prohibited timber cutting of trees the King had reserved for ship-building. Reserved trees were marked with a broad arrow symbol. Britain carried over the broad arrow policy into North America, which helped plant the seeds of discontent against the British that led to the British Revolution |
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Term
| Other than for ship-building and charcoal making, give 2 reasons why forests were cleared during the US colonial period and during its early period as a nation. |
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Definition
| You could often get malaria in the forests so they were cut down. There was also an idea that cutting down forests led to redemption in the eyes of God because humans were mandated to subdue the forests and led God look down on the heathens within. In other words, people thought it was their duty or “Manifest Destiny” to civilize the forests. Forests were also cleared so the land could be used for farms and houses. |
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Term
| What was the ideal forest condition during the 1800s in the United States? |
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Definition
| In the 1800s people thought the best thing was to clear cut forests. |
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Term
| What was the pathway of the “cut and run” loggers as they moved across the US? |
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Definition
| Deforestation began in the North East, then the lake states, then the South and finally on the West Coast. |
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Term
| From 1200 to 1700, Europeans began an intense period of exploration and long-term colonization throughout the world. What vicious cycle did this period result in related to forests? |
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Definition
| It created a cycle where Europeans needed wood to build ships and heat foundries, so they conquered foreign lands for wood and they had to use wood to maintain their status in these lands, which led to a European need for more wood. |
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Term
| Describe the Native American tribal presence in the state of Washington today? In Washington, where do you find the smallest and where do you find the largest tracts of contiguous land area still owned by a tribe or confederation of tribes? Speculate why you think there is this pattern of tribal land ownership. |
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Definition
| There are 32 reservations, some of which have multiple tribes. The west has small reservations and there are bigger ones in Yakama in the south and Colville in the east. |
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Term
| Compare and contrast the culture of Coastal Tribes and the Plateau (interior) Tribes? (What was their primary food source, where did they get their food, how did they get along with other tribes?) |
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Definition
| Coastal: common & shared territory, most warfare defensive, extensive internal relations through trade, upper & lower classes & slaves, guardian spirits and transmutation, large red cedar Long houses. Plateau: pit houses, warfare more widespread, readily adapted the horse, basketry, salmon, deer, elk, bison. |
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Term
| What are non-timber forest products and what was their value to Native Americans? Describe the broad array of non-timber forest products that can be produced from materials collected in the forest. |
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Definition
| Huckleberries, camas root, Oregon grape (medicines), elderberries, Tule reeds (mats). Salal for eating. |
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Term
| What are non-timber forest products and what was their value to Native Americans? Describe the broad array of non-timber forest products that can be produced from materials collected in the forest. |
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Definition
| Huckleberries, camas root, Oregon grape (medicines), elderberries, Tule reeds (mats). Salal for eating. |
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Term
| In the article “Native American Influences on the Development of Forest Ecosystems”, the authors suggest that Native Americans were deliberately managing their lands. What evidence did they use to suggest that active management of the landscapes was occurring? What activities did Native Americans pursue (list 2)? |
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Definition
| Stimulate growth of edible foods, kill insects, cleared land with fires |
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Term
| What did a pre-colonial forest look like compared to what it looks like after the colonialists started to manage them or what scientists think that it looked like in the past? List 2 differences and what explained this difference. |
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Definition
| We have noticed those fires were set at certain times of year to reduce undergrowth and make way for planting. |
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Term
| Did North America have high wildlife populations especially of ungulates like elk, moose and bison before the arrival of the Europeans? What is the evidence for the ungulate population density prior to the arrival of the Europeans? |
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Definition
| Elk eat young aspen saplings and beavers like aspen wood, so large beaver populations at first contact show deer management. |
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Term
| What was the role of buffalo in the life of Native Americans living in the Great Plains region of the US? What was the US government policy towards the buffalo and what were 2 impacts of this policy? |
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Definition
| Buffalo have large skins so were often hunted for their hides. |
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Term
Why is culture and cultural resources important for Native American tribes?
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Definition
| Native Americans practice ceremonies and put a great deal of weight on cultural tradition because it bonds them together. |
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Term
| How did changing technology influence how timber was harvested in the US? |
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Definition
· Railroads accounted for 25% of timber in U.S.
· Almost all tools were made with wood and iron tips
· Fossil fuels created less of a necessity for the use of wood but coal and wood were used for iron making
· Harvest more trees faster and efficiently but hurt the environment
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Term
| How did attitudes about American forests change between the early colonists and writers such as Marsh and Thoreau in the mid-1800s? |
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Definition
· Americans viewed the forests as an inexhaustible resource.
· The myth of inexhaustibility came to a close.
· Conservation movement ensued.
· Thoreau retired to Walden pond and reflected on environment.
· Marsh and Thoreau advocated for conservation and preservation through their writings.
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Term
What were the major roles of the early Forest Service?
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Definition
· To prevent forest fire, public education
o In thirty years the number and size of fires reduced dramatically
· Protect the forests and the species that live in them
· Mainly protection form fire, but also reforestation as well as education
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Term
| How has the ratio of harvest to regrowth changed over the last century? |
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Definition
· For the first time, the rate of regrowth has been greater then the use of the forests
· Used to harvest twice the rate of forest growth but now we grow more wood then harvest by 1/3
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Term
What was the philosophy towards the uses of natural resources that kept people continuing to pursue new frontiers for resources further out west? What are the implications of such a philosophy for how natural resources are used?
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Definition
· The supply was endless to them. It permitted a “cut out and get out” mind set
· Similar to mining
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Term
What are the implications of accepting Ecosystem Management as the paradigm to drive management decisions in the federal agencies? (Note: Ecosystem Management was accepted in 1992 by all federal land management agencies as their core principle for how the agencies would make decisions)
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Definition
· Requires a wider scope in the focus of management
· Need a wider range of specialists than just foresters (wildlife, soil, water…)
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Term
| Consider the quote by John Muir at the end of the video. When did he write this? Do you think he may have had different views by 1916? |
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Definition
· The quote in the video is dated to 1885 and emphasized wise-use. By 1916 he was more of an advocate for preservation of wild lands.
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