The Social Construction of Pine Forest Wastes in Southwestern France During the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

Forest wastes trace a frontier between what remains a passive part of landscape and a potentially useful resource. As a consequence, the history of forest waste gives us numerous insights into the evolution of the perception of a forest as an economic unit. Pine forests and their products are particularly telling in this regard. Rosin, pine stumps, undergrowth, sawdust, cones, needles and tall-oil are some of the pine forest products that were considered wastes at some point in history, but the perception of which shifted following the development of socio-economic context, forest industry policies or scientific knowledge. In spite of their diversity, there are recurring patterns in the way these various forest wastes became objects of interest to the industry. The identification of these patterns allows us to tell in a more accurate way the complex story of the relationship between the wood industry and the natural environment.