Eastern U.S. Forests Declining After Decades of Recovery, Study Says

Forest cover in the eastern U.S. has declined in recent decades after a period of recovery that marked much of the 20th century, according to a new study. For several decades beginning in 1920, eastern forests expanded steadily as fields previously used for agriculture were abandoned and trees regrew, researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey found. But that trend has reversed since the early 1970s, with a 4.1 percent decline in forest cover from 1973 to 2000, according to a report published in the journal BioScience. Using remote sensing imagery, statistical data, field notes, and photographs, researchers calculated that more than 9 million acres were cleared from 1973 to 2000. While abandoned fields and pastures continue to become woodlands, the study said that increases in timber production, urban expansion, mountaintop removal mining, and reservoir construction have created a net forest loss that “has important implications for sustainability, future carbon sequestration, and biodiversity.”