<p>The exploitation of Latino workers in many industries, from<br>agriculture and meat packing to textile manufacturing and janitorial<br>services, is well known. By contrast, pineros -- itinerant workers who<br>form the backbone of the forest management labour force on federal land<br>-- toil in obscurity.</p><br><br><p> </p><br><br><p>Drawing on government papers, media accounts, and interviews with<br>federal employees and Latino forest workers in Oregon's Rogue<br>Valley, Brinda Sarathy investigates how the federal government came to<br>be one of the single largest employers of Latino labour in the Pacific<br>Northwest. She documents pinero wages, working conditions, and benefits<br>in comparison to those of white loggers and tree planters,<br>exposing exploitation that, she argues, is the product of an ongoing<br>history of institutionalized racism, fragmented policy, and<br>intra-ethnic exploitation in the West. To overcome this legacy, Sarathy<br>offers a number of proposals to improve the visibility and working<br>conditions of pineros and to provide them with a stronger voice in<br>immigration and forestry policy-making.</p><br><br><p> </p><br><br>This vividly drawn account fills many gaps in our understanding of<br>forest management in the Pacific Northwest, making clear that true<br>environmental justice must take into account not only stewardship of<br>forests, but also the treatment of the people who work in them.<br><p><br><b>Brinda Sarathy</b> is an assistant professor of<br>environmental analysis at Pitzer College in Claremont, California.