The Idea of the Forest : German and American Perspectives on the Culture and Politics of Trees was a seminar presented by the German Studies Program of the University of Oregon, April 1992.
During the many trips I took between my parents’ home in Portland and my student digs in Berkeley, I crossed the Cascade Mountains several times. At their crest, the view was of wide expanses of unbroken forests. However, that view changed as the National forests were allocated for timber extraction through bids from private companies. Exploitation for timber dominated forest use until the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was passed. The Northern Spotted Owl was seen as endangered. Its habitat is “old growth forests.” Until then, old growth forests were the most desirable timber lands. These lands had been seen as an unlimited resource. Many of the early logged-over lands had been abandoned, burned over, or were not restocked. Some timber lands in Oregon were managed by both private and the federal government as tree farms. Other lands had been set aside, some of the less accessible, more remote areas were designated as wilderness. But in compliance with Endangered Spies Act, in 1977, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management were required to preserve old growth forests as habitat of Northern Spotted Owls. With the disputes that followed the setting aside of desirable timber lands from logging, the public’s awareness of the closing of the forest frontier became evident. In this paper I have tried to show that closing in a series of maps. But before showing those maps, I want to indicate the difference between old growth forests and timber lands.
Jerry Franklin and Chis Maser well illustrate the differences. Franklin shows the characteristics of the structure of old growth forests. Maser shows the changes in forest soils after several timber harvest.
These Characteristics are lost after Old Growth Forests are Cut
Figures 16 , 29 a and 29b are by Chris Maser 
The next figure notes how the forest lands were acquired by both private firms and government agencies.
The next two maps show the development of settlement in Lane County, Oregon. Most settlement was based on urban activities and farming or strong out along major roads. The first major logging operations were in the Mohawk Valley
At one time its major city, Eugene, was known as the lumber capital of the world.
The first map shows the first areas to be logged in Lane County. The second map show the state of the forests in 1900. The cut over lands were close to the rivers–the MacKenzie, the Willamette, and the Siuslaw, because the logs could be floated down stream to a mill. Starting in the early 1900s, logging operations in the Mohawk Valley, northeast of Springfield, became a source of timber. Man-made flumes and temporary railroads were used to get the logs to small mills. The sketches by Archie Mbogo, which he made for his Master’s thesis. Illustrate the changes in logging over the years. The biggest change came with the development of logging trucks that could carry the huge logs from the virgin forest. With trucks bringing logs to large mills in Eugene and Springfield, Lane County became the largest timber region in the country.
In 1985 most of the settled areas were in the Willamette Valley or along the major roads in the county. The uncolored areas on the following map largely remain forested. Starting in the 1930s, roads were built throughout the areas slated for harvesting logs. The next series of maps illustrated the gradual extension of roads into the forested townships of the county. Today more roads are to be found in the forest land than in the rural farming areas of the region.
In the map below, the National Forest lands are outlined in green. The Bureau of Land Management lands which were re-vested into the US domain are shown in orange. The BLM lands were originally granted to the Oregon and California Railroad, but through a series of court cases were returned to the government because the company had not complied with the terms of the original grant. The old O & C railroad lands alternate with townships held by private firms.
The areas outlined in Red are areas that I mapped to show forest types and history of logging. Samples of those maps conclude this presentation.
The sample areas outlined in red from larger maps are available only on my un-digitized 35 mm. Transparencies.
The next maps detail forest conditions or roads in three sample Townships. The date of the building of roads is a good indicator of logging activities. I mapped the development of roads in 1966, 1976, and 1989 to show the period of timber extraction.
Road building is a good indicator of the decline of old growth forests by logging. It also shows the closing of the forest frontier in the American West.