Ken Drushka

When Ian Mahood began his work for forestry magnate H.R. MacMillan in the 1950s, forest management was something less than a science. Mahood's pioneer silviculture methods were instrumental in changing the forest industry's approach to harvesting and crop management.From his early days of working as a sparkchaser on railway logging in the 1930s to stints as a Chief Executive Officer for top Canadian and international forest companies, Ian Mahood was a close inside observer of the forest industry. Now he brings his expertise to this biting indictment of a forest management policy gone astray. His story, a detailed examination of the industry spiced with personal anecdotes and incisive observations, questions the logic of the controversial Tree Farm Licence system.

From bulls to balloons, from horses to helicopters, Working in the Woods chronicles the myriad changes which have swept through west coast logging since Captain Vancouver came ashore to cut spars in the eighteenth century. By far the most authoritative book ever written on the history of British Columbia's logging industry, Working in the Woods combines meticulous research and colourful oral accounts with a breathtaking array of rarely seen historical photographs.Author Ken Drushka, one of Canada's foremost writers on forest industry matters, has left no stone unturned in solving such mysteries as what happened to the swashbuckling boss-logger Jesse James (he choked to death on a beef steak) or what became of the once-dominant IEL Chainsaw company (it was sold to the Electrolux vacuum cleaner corporation). In addition he documents such major events as the disappearance of railroad logging and the emergence of the large corporations, and offers some well-turned opinions on what the industry must do to adjust to changing times.Working in the Woods brings history to life with tales from the men who felled mammoth trees with primitive hand tools, then hauled them out through the wet, muddy conditions of the coast by horse team, steam train, and truck. Drushka travelled the coast and islands looking for these old-timers, taping their stories and borrowing their never-before-seen photos. The resulting book is both a definitive history, and an evocative human account of the early days of logging.

A comprehensive overview of how humans have used Canada

A comprehensive overview of how humans have used Canada

Over a decade ago, Ken Drushka's Stumped: The Forest Industry in Transition emerged as the definitive text on the British Columbia forest industry. In a clear, concise manner, Drushka explained the inner workings of the forest industry and unravelled its complexities, identifying its fundamental problems and explaining how our forests, a resource owned by all British Columbians, were being mismanaged by the industry, the government and the forestry profession.But that was fourteen years ago - a lot has changed since. Now, Ken Drushka is back with In the Bight, a fresh look at the management of BC's forests. Drushka details the evolution of the forest industry, from the industry's arrogant superiority exhibited up to the late 1980s to its current position of confused decline and despair. He describes the problems confronting recent governments, their attempts at solutions, and their shortcomings of policy and enforcement, with informative analysis of recent initiatives including the Forest Practices Code, the CORE process, Forest Renewal BC, and the Protected Areas Strategy. As he did in Stumped, Drushka presents his analysis in the context of historical background and proposes practical alternatives to current policy, which is not solving our forestry problems.

Winner of the 1996 Roderick Haig-Brown BC Book Prize