Seven thousand dollars. One tree. One life. Not much of the economy, not much of a forest, not much of the population. But on a September 1998 morning the three met in the death of David Chain when a redwood tree he was trying to protect fell on him. The felled tree was worth about $7,000 in lumber. All are a small part of a big picture. In a Good Forest for Dying: The Tragic Death of a Young Man on the Front Lines of the Environmental Wars, Patrick Beach creates vivid images of the people in this story by using many of their own words.

Beach’s skills as a feature writer for the Austin American-Statesman are apparent. Beach is a Texan, writing about a Texan’s death and a Texas corporation in California. A complicated combination of events brings all these forces together to create a book illustrating the interconnectedness of life.

A Good Forest for Dying helps the reader understand the complex feud between logging companies and environmentalists in California. Beach takes the story of the tragic death of David Chain and shows how it was inevitable something like this would happen in the 1990s. A local, family-owned logging company bought out by a big corporation with a different agenda creates the perfect target for environmental activists.

If there is an antagonist in the book, he is the owner of the Texas corporation that buys Pacific Lumber looking for a profit. Beach, however, is careful not to make heroes out of anyone. The book is about real people struggling to find their identity in the context of this turf battle between industry and the environment.

David Chain, fellow Texan, struggles to find an identity and discovers one in becoming a part of the Earth First movement. A.E. Ammons, the logger who felled the tree, is struggling with how to make ends meet as a national corporation is squeezing his local company. And finally, David Chain’s mother, struggling to make sense of her son’s death, adopts her son’s cause of saving the redwoods. All are flawed, but because of their Flaws, they are real, which draws the reader closer to them.

A reader looking for a manifesto for Earth First or a justification for cutting old- growth redwood forests would do well to look elsewhere. Beach’s work is highly balanced. He relies heavily on the words of the people involved, and through their own words they come alive, each with his or her own story. Beach weaves these stories together in a way that shows all sides while not stifling the individuality of his subjects.

A Good Forest for Dying is a book worth reading.

This review originally appeared in the March/April 2005 issue of World Ark, the magazine of Heifer International. Used with permission.

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