The Isan farmers of Ubonratchatani province in Northeast Thailand employ Buddhist as well as modernist environmental arguments to resist the spread of commercial eucalyptus plantations carried out by the state. Villagers affected by the consequences of commercial forestry have made a metaphorical link between eucalyptus, destructive exploitation and coercive power. The central argument of the present study is that local environmentalism is a reaction against a government policy which in itself is formulated in conservationist terms.