Histories of Forestry: Ideas, Networks and Silences

Professional German foresters have had a significant impact in many parts of the world. While this impact is acknowledged in India, Canada and the USA, it appears that many histories of Australian forestry are Anglocentric, spatially and temporally constrained, and unaware of the travel of ideas which underpin forestry practice. This article compares Australian and Canadian forestry histories, with particular reference to New South Wales and British Columbia respectively. It uses a modified form of Actant-Network Theory to look at the construction of Nature as part of the evolution of forestry, and to investigate the movement of ideas that underpin forestry in Australia and Canada.