Mississippi Forests and Forestry

Mississippi Forests and Forestry. By James E. Fickle. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001. xiv, 347 pp. $35.00, ISBN 1-- 57806-308-6.)

In Mississippi Forests and Forestry, James E. Fickle attempts to construct a comprehensive history of forest use in Mississippi, recording changes in the state's woodlands from pre-Columbian times through the twentieth century. He consults an impressive array of source materials, ranging from government documents, newspapers, interviews, and contemporary accounts to published research in many relevant fields, to address topics such as Native American forest use, vast deforestation during the 11 cut out and get out" era, and subsequent reforestation efforts by the evolving profession of forestry in cooperation with the government and the lumber industry. Fickle competently narrates developments in scientific forestry, public policy, and lumbering technology and...