Industrialization in the Woods of the Miramichi
 
Tree harvesting designates that set of production or work activities that transform a tree standing in the forest to either saw logs or pulpwood at the side of the logging road, awaiting transport to the saw or paper mill. The fundamental or elemental activities required in this transformation are felling the tree, delimbing (removing the limbs from the tree), slashing (cutting the tree trunk into appropriate lengths), and off-road transfer (relocating the product to the side of the logging road).
 
These elemental activities may be performed:
 

i) in a variety of sequences (e.g. off-road transfer may occur before or after slashing)

ii) in a variety of geographical locations (e.g. slashing may occur where the tree is felled or at roadside)

iii) in a variety of social locations (i.e. which activities are allocated to what positions in the social division of labour), and

iv) by manual labour (with the assistance of tools) or with machines (introducing the large question of technological innovation).
The permutations of the above factors gives rise to a wide variety of tree harvesting production systems.
 

Two pictorial and descriptive examples of actual tree harvesting production systems (drawn from the Miramichi region) are provided:

 
i) for an account of the most recent harvesting system, the single-grip harvester, click here.
ii) for an account of the most productive harvesting system, the feller-forwarder, click here.
 
We (my departmental colleague, Michael Clow, and I) have been studying the developmental pattern of these harvesting systems with reference to the Miramichi region of Northeastern New Brunswick, Canada, since the summer of 1991. The period which we are investigating generally includes the last half of the twentieth century, though many of the interesting developments occurred in the 25 year period between the early 60s and late 80s. For a description of our research methods, click here. For a listing of the papers which have so far emerged from this project, click here.
 
Tree harvesting has experienced a most dramatic transformation since World War II, marked by the repetition of the industrial revolution of the late eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries, but - quite unlike the industrial revolution - occurring in only twenty-five to thirty years. Our concern is to both document and explain this transformation.
 
We have identified the variety of actual tree harvesting production systems (using the factors identified in the second paragraph) that have existed on the Miramichi during this time period. We have arranged them in historical sequence. Our purpose is to account for this sequence. Designating it industrialization only describes the process; we wish to delve into the developmental pattern. Our general theoretical perspective is drawn from Marx's theory of the subordination of labour. More specifically, we focus especially on the labour process characterizing these tree harvesting systems, relying particularly on the social division of labour.
 
Located here is "Taylorism in the Woods". It succinctly reveals the sorts of questions we find interesting and the kinds of explanations we propose. A cautionary note: because it is an earlier paper, its analysis is less sophisticated (we think) and we did get some aspects of the developmental process incorrect. The paper, then, is for illustrative purposes only. To obtain a more current sense, consult our published work.