Book: Extraordinary Women Conservationists of Washington

A history of the struggle, 1948-1976, to create and protect National Parks in Washington State. The Forest Service, charged with protecting national forests, was staffed by and run for the benefit of, the logging industry.  Weyerhaeuser was, and still is, a major player in Washington politics. 

The Forest Service was okay designating mountain peaks and lakes as "wilderness" but they didn't want anything protected if it had trees on it.  Consequently the vast majority of our original old growth forests were logged before protections could be set up.  You see the stumps everywhere you drive.

Several of the people involved in this effort are known to me.  One of them was one of my professors at college. My parents were active in a small way, as was a grand-uncle of mine.

Every step of the way, the conservationists were fought (and vastly outspent) by the Forest Service who could only see immediate dollar signs.  The idea of protecting anything for future generations is foreign to the greedy bastards.

Perhaps surprisingly, the environmental movement pitted conservatives against conservationists. It seems the definition of the word "conserve" could vary according to context.

For 23 years the Department of Natural Resources was headed by a former logger, whose motto was "It'll get logged eventually so let's just cut it now." His Department became known as the "Department of Nothing Remaining."

It got so bad the DNR began wrapping hillsides in visqueen to try to prevent the inevitable landslides, like the one that devastated Oso.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_mudslide