For more than three decades, British Columbia's old growthforests have been a major source of political conflict. In Talk andLog, Jeremy Wilson presents a comprehensive account of the rise ofthe wilderness movement, examines the forest industry's politicalstrategies, and analyzes the inner workings of the policy process.

Wilson describes a number of major political battles, such as thoseresulting in preservation of South Moresby, the Carmanah, and theValhalla wilderness, and investigates the factors that pushed thegovernment towards a more comprehensive approach to expanding theprotected areas system. He considers a wide range of forest policydevelopments and assesses the effectiveness of government and industryattempts to contain the wilderness movement. In the final part, heexplores the Harcourt NDP government's reform initiatives,including the Commission on Resources and Environment (CORE), theProtected Areas Strategy, and the Forest Practices Code.

Talk and Log illuminates the forces behind controveriesthat have divided British Columbians, preoccupied the provincialgovernment, and drawn the attention of people across Canada and theworld. By discussing the patterns and trends underlying the past threedecades of wilderness politics, Wilson identifies the currents likelyto dominate B.C. wilderness debates in decades to come.