Forest History: What roles have women played in industrial forestry? How have women’s roles and representations in Washington state’s industrial forest products industry changed over time?
Images
HistoryLink Articles
- Everett teacher and mountaineer Mabel McBain solo staffs the Skykomish Lookout Station in summer 1918.
- Dyer, Pauline (Polly) (1920-2016)
- Fay Fuller becomes the first woman known to reach the summit of Mount Rainier on August 10, 1890.
- Washington Forest History Interviews: Sally Jewell, Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior
- Fire Lookouts in Washington
- Logging, Lumbering, and Forestry in the North Cascades
Curriculum
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This inquiry is meant to answer the large compelling question: “How does fire change more than the landscape?” This is done by examining two supporting questions. The first is: “What is the history of forest fire in Washington?” In this section students will look at some of the major fires in Washington and how each has led to changes in the way that fires will be approached after. In this section students will engage in discussion and note-taking that will support content area literacy goals. The information that students gain from this part of the inquiry will help to set the stage for understanding the current goals of forest firefighting and prevention.
In the second part of the inquiry students will be answering the supporting question: “What is being done about fires in Washington now?” In this part of the inquiry students will engage in structured research where they will learn about the different methods that Washington state is taking to fight forest fires today. The students will then publish an argumentative response discussing if there’s more that the state could be doing to fight fires in Washington.
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In this focused inquiry, students investigate the compelling questions: What roles have women played in industrial forestry? How have women’s roles and representations in Washington state’s forest products industry changed over time?
Students will learn about the history of forestry and will engage in critical thinking of women participating in forestry through various jobs throughout the twentieth century, with a focus on the vital role women played as fire lookouts in Washington’s rugged and remote wilderness during World War II. Drawing on photographs, first-person accounts, and historical articles, students will investigate how women contributed to forest conservation and what their stories reveal about gender, labor, and environmental stewardship inWashington state.
The supporting question is: What challenges and contributions did women experience as fire lookouts in Washington during the twentieth century?
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The purpose of this lesson is to convey to students the importance of forest management and to introduce them to the rich history of Indigenous forest management on the Olympic Peninsula. This inquiry is meant to answer the larger compelling question of “How do person-plant interactions shape the cultural and physical landscape?” This is done by examining three supporting questions.
- “How did the Indigenous people’s connection to the forest shape their way of life and the physical landscape?”
- “How did the ‘Stevens Treaties’ change ownership and management of forest lands on the Olympic Peninsula?”
- “What traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) can be used to inform forest management today?”
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