Danny Williams, of B&T Logging Contractors, assessing the next area he will be cutting

The extraction of coal and timber has for the past century formed a "boom and bust" economy for people living in the mountains. Conversations with residents and foresters reveal a contrast between two modes of forest management, one market-based, the other community-based. A community-based mode of forestry, rooted in a historical system of forest-farming with Cherokee and Celtic antecedents (cite source), nurtures a sense of reciprocity among humans, animals, and the land. A number of project participants expressed misgivings about destroying "den trees," "bee trees," and nut trees, for example. "I worked with a man in Hazy who would not cut a hickory," said Danny Williams. "He would not cut a hickory. The boss had to go along behind him and cut all the hickories." Depicted in these photos is a "selective cut," which means that the property owner identified the species and size of timber that could be harvested.
Event: Logging.