Suppressing Fire and Memory: Environmental Degradation and Political Restoration in the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca, 1887-2001
Author(s)
Mathews, Andrew Salvador
Abstract
Until about 1940, fires were frequent in the forests of the Sierra Juárez Mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. In part, they resulted from agricultural practices. Gradually from 1930 the Mexican government promoted a forest policy of fire suppression. In 1956 Mexico awarded a timber concession to Fábricas Papeleras de Tuxtepec, a paper company, alleging that central control of the forests would end the haphazard deforestation rampant when local communities controlled the resource. The company enforced government restrictions on the use of fire even as changes in agriculture reduced burning practices. The forest communities, specifically Ixtlan de Juárez, suppressed memories of their role in forest fires, adopted the government line on the need to prevent fires, and recast the paper company as a despoiler of the forest in order to regain control of the forests from the company.
