Session Schedule ASEH Toronto Conference 2013

The Forest Service at War: Exchanging Ideas Across No Man’s Land Panel 1-I: Prince Edward Island Chair: Lincoln Bramwell, U.S. Forest Service Commenter: James Skillen, Calvin College Panelists:  Byron Pearson, West Texas A&M University “One Hell of a Complicated Proposition”: How the Lumberjacks of the AEF Helped Win the First World War  James Lewis, Forest History Society “Only you can prevent a forest”: The U.S. Forest Service in Vietnam  Richard Lasko, U.S. Forest Service (retired) Foresters in Afghanistan: An Agricultural Perspective of the “Great Game” Abstract: The U.S. Forest Service’s close connection to the United States military dates back more than a century, to when both organizations were struggling to become respected institutions led by trained, full-time professionals. Over the past century, the two organizations have not only exchanged personnel, but also ideas about structure, training, and even uniforms.

The closest connection between the Forest Service and the military has come during wartime, which has allowed the Forest Service to project its power and influence in different ways and places. Forest Service employees, while either serving in or alongside the military, have had an impact on warzone environments. In World War I, dozens of Forest Service administrators left to log and mill lumber for American troops fighting in France (presenter #1). The ranger in a military uniform was seen again in or near the front lines during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

But in the Vietnam era, this relationship changed. Only a handful of agency personnel served overseas, but they did so through other federal agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development or the Central Intelligence Agency. In a radical departure, the Forest Service—a land management agency charged with protecting 192 million acres at home—aided in destroying Vietnam’s environment by loaning fire researchers to the military for a top-secret operation aimed at them burning down (presenter #2). Before the end of the war, that worked stopped. Now, Forest Service volunteers, including our third panelist, work to improve war-torn environments."