A thought-provoking look at how man and nature co-exist, somewhat uneasily, within the Appalachian Forest, the world's most diverse temperate woodlands, 80 percent of which is privately owned-by the ancestors of homesteaders, outsiders who have bought large and small tracts, absentee landlords and landowners, private groups and institutions, and giant corporations. Interviews with a diverse group of landowners -- a horse logger, a selective cutter, a ginseng grower, a clear cutter, a forest steward, a summer-camp owner, and others -- and the author's own experiences as a landowner illustrate the private forest's past, present, and future.