| About Knox Academic Admission Alumni News - Sports Services Search |
|
| ||||
Tuesday, October 8, 2002
Contact: Peter Bailley
news@knox.edu
309-341-7715
GALESBURG -- William G. Robbins, Distinguished Professor of History at Oregon State University, will give a talk, "Burning Forests: Politics and National Fire Policy," at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 21 in the Common Room, Old Main, Knox College, Galesburg, IL. The talk is free and open to the public.
Robbins, who has studied environmental history for two decades, will discuss the ways that politics and timber property holders have shaped national fire policy during the 20th century.
According to Robbins, "It's been argued recently that increases in logging will lessen the dangers of catastrophic forest fires. Decisions about forest fires have had little to do with forest ecology. For most of the 20th century, protection of timber property has shaped state and federal responses to fire. In the last decade or so, environmental restrictions that have limited cutting in the national forests have complicated the issue."
Robbins is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and a graduate of Western Connecticut State University. He has M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oregon. Robbins is the author of nine books including, "Landscapes of Promise: The Oregon Story," and "Colony and Empire: The Capitalist Transformation of the American West." In 1997, he was named Distinguished Professor of History at Oregon State University, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1971.
The talk is sponsored by the Environmental Studies, History and American Studies departments.
Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 48 states and 40 nations. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.
-end-
