Mark Ashton, Morris K. Jessup Professor of Silviculture and Forest Ecology and Director of the School Forests, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, provides a historical overview of forest management and land use. Professor Ashton discusses the changing uses of forests and how cycles of industrialization, degradation, rehabilitation and sustainability are affected by changing capitalization values. He also traces the beginnings of scientific forestry in Europe and America, and notes the strategies that forest managers and policymakers may use in the future.