Gender and Generation on the Far Western Frontier by Cynthia Culver Prescott

Abstract

theHJ. Andrews Experimental Forest, was established in 1948 and is jointlyadministered byOregon StateUniversity, theForest Service PNW Research Station, and the Willamette National Forest.The Andrews covers approxi mately sixteen thousand acres ofmountainous terrain in theCascade Range ofwest-central Oregon, including the entire drainage basin of Lookout Creek. The initialfocus of research at theAndrews Experimental Forestwas management for the production of timber on a 100-year rotation. That focus began to shiftas new discoveries shaped thedirection of scientific inquiry and as the growing community of scientistsbegan to recognize the potential fornew avenues of research in areas such as watershed and cli mate studies,wildlife ecology, and forestand stream dynamics. The emergence of a point of view marked by a willingness to consider new approaches to research in the "outdoor laboratory" characterized the scientific com munity thatcame tobe known as the"Andrews Group." Chapters three through six ofNecessary Work explore several interconnected themes. One such theme is the growing linksbetween interdisciplinaryscience and long-termexperi mental research, such as log decomposition over a 200-year time frame, modeling of long termprocesses, and theenvironmental legacies of clearcutting on forest and stream ecology. That long-term focus led to participation in larger efforts,such as the International Bio logical Programme (IBP) during the 1970sand theNational Science Foundation's Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program from the 1980s through thepresent. Another theme is the increasing public awareness of environmental issues and the resulting effects on policy, the scientific landscape, the complexities of interagency management, and the research community itself. Changing policies and priorities sparked debates over environmental issues such as log ging inold-growth forestsand thecontroversy overhabitat requirementsof thenorthern spot ted owl. Research conducted on theAndrews Forest was sometimes at the heart of these debates, creating additional pressures on the scientificcommunity as findingswere used to informand even shape public policy. The final chapters explore the concepts of community, institutionbuilding, and coopera tive ethics at the core of theAndrews Group. This human aspect,perhaps unimagined when theexperimental forest was founded, resonates throughoutNecessaryWork and is illuminated byGeier's inclusion of commentary,anecdotes, and reflectionsby key participants during the past fifty years. Necessary Work isbuilt around oral histo ries, interviews,and archivalmaterial under lainwith information drawn from scientific researchpublications. Geier deftlyinterweaves history and science into a cohesive, flowing narrative. The result isa harmonious blend of science and community, research and history, thatcaptures the spiritof theAndrews Experi mental Forest. Caryn M. Davis Oregon State University GENDERAND GENERATION ON THE FAR WESTERN FRONTIER byCynthiaCulverPrescott University ofArizona Press, Tucson, 2007. Illustrations, photographs, tables, notes, bibliography, index. 230 pages. $49-95 cloth. During the late 1970s and 1980s, historians produced many studies that illuminated and explained themigration that flooded the far western territorieswith land-hungry settlers from theMidwest. Readers of these histories, pleased but not completely satisfied, asked: "What happened then?"This book is a com pact reply to thatquestion, sharply focused on evolving gender roles and ideologies on settler Reviews 337 farms inOregon's Willamette Valley from 1845 to 1900. Cynthia Prescott tells readers that thenext generation became asmuch likeEasterners as possible. In the Willamette Valley, she argues, settlersquickly reestablished a domestic ideol ogy that separated the roles forwomen and men and dictated thatwomen's place was working inside the home while men worked outside in thefields.This lush farmingvalley, predominantly composed of equal numbers ofmale and femaleEuro-Americans, was both geographically and culturally likethe Midwest. On the ideological frontier,settlerscultivated "good manners." The second generation, how ever,quickly veered away from that founding culture to a new middle-class culture of "con sumption and refined leisure." Prescott argues thispoint indifferent ways. Euro-American families on first-generation farms did most of their own work, but the second generation changed thatculture. While male and female responsibilities within the family remained basically static, the children of the firstsettlersmarried at an older age and worked within an increasingly gendered division of labor.Young men questioned their fathers' authority, and young women sought more balanced power relationships within marriage. Together, theycreated social activities thatmirrored the evolving, national middle class lifestyle. Prescott describes that new lifestylepri marily through itsdomestic side. In careful detail, she shows evidence from material culture tomake her point. Quilts, clothing, and photographs...