(In)visible labor, discretionary power: Mapping the work of incarcerated firefighting in plantation nature

Many of the North American Pacific Northwest’s forests are working plantation landscapes whose timber assets have long been at risk to wildfire. For over 70 years, incarcerated people in the US state of Oregon have served as an essential, often invisible labor force for implementing the state’s policy of “absolute” wildland fire suppression, which seeks to protect standing timber by extinguishing all fires as soon after ignition as possible. First, I present the results of collaborative research using geospatial and data visualization methods to map a unique data set from the Oregon Department of Corrections, illustrating how much and what kinds of fire work are performed by incarcerated crews, where, and at what cost. Second, I detail the tremendous methodological challenges our research faced in constructing this account. I argue that these challenges illuminate the pivotal role of discretionary power in both extending the carceral apparatus to the forest, and in concealing/revealing bureaucratic knowledge about this labor regime.

Leigh Johnson is an economic geographer and political ecologist whose research focuses on environmental labor, disaster risk finance, and climate justice. She is currently Verena Meyer Visiting Professor of Geography at the University of Zurich and Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon.

Virtual session (via zoom) provided upon registration: https://forms.gle/mERQCfYd2uyTcbNGA