Forested roadside buffer strips mask clear-cuts from the public while stoking logger resentment.

Evidence

I decided that I needed to confront my ignorance and go visit a clear-cut. … Uncut buffer strips are required between public thoroughfares and the cuts, protecting the public’s view by federal mandate. Loggers complain about the trees left unharvested, but those thin, concealing walls of forest may serve the industry well, creating the roadside illusion of intact forest and stifling public objections. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 574

Categorization

• XREF: A scenic-screen effect that parallels the roadside-disguise garden in ch35 and the illusion-of-intactness logic relevant to environmental-justice critique.
• SEED: Angle: the federally-mandated scenic buffer as legal theater — policy that manages perception rather than land, echoing how buffer-and-zoning segregation worked historically to keep damaging sights out of view.