Introduction:
A huge amount of variables come into play when one tries to judge not only the current state of forest in the United States, but also the future of American forests. 1920 stands as the low water mark of forest coverage in the United States (Nix, n.d.), however, since 1920, forest coverage has been on the rise. The question that remains is thus; will this trend of forest growth and coverage continue into the twenty-first century? In order to gauge a prediction to this question, variables obvious and over-looked come into play; i.e. industrial foresting practices, protected lands, politics, mountaintop removal, bark beetle infestations, over-due wild fires, etc. This authors educated opinion is that forest coverage in the United States will maintain itself at its current average on into the twenty-first century, despite some looming obstacles ahead. Some of these obstacles are man-made, others are naturally occurring, however, nature’s resilience is one that has been proven time and again, and though the make-up of American forests in the twenty-first century may continue to change, it will not cease to thrive.
Argument:
Logging gets a bad name. Without a doubt industrial logging is the first culprit that comes to mind for many when forest coverage is discussed. To often, pictures of freshly clear-cut hillsides deliver a negative connotation without any perspective. While selective cutting is still widely preferred by many environmentalists, if proper forest management is practiced, even clear-cutting forest can become sustainable; this is proven by the fairly consistent amount of forest coverage maintained over the last 100 years (see chart below).
Fig. 1: Forest Coverage 1760-2000 (Nix, n.d.)
Further more, over the last 50 years, the net growth of timber has consistently outweighed removal (Stephens, 2010). And while about 2% of the United States forest is cut each annual timber harvest, its important to remember that these are not permanent losses. Only when forest is not allowed to regrow, i.e. when it is developed into agriculture, cities, parking lots, etc., is it permanently lost. Forests return after cutting naturally and are especially helped by human intervention; about 1.8 million acres of forest are planted in the United States each year (Stephens, 2010)!
However, the information presented thus far pertains to secondary forest, or forest that has already been cut before. Primary forests, or old-growth forests, are of a different breed. These few, precious islands of forest are still being cut today, and at a great cost. Primary forests contain the highest amount of plant and animal species of any forest type in the United States, and often contain biodiversity only found in, and only supported by, primary forest environments (United States, n.d.). Alaska now contains the vast majority of old-growth forest in the United States, and in a recent victory, the Forest Service announced it will no longer be cutting old-growth forest in road-less areas of Alaska (Forest Service, n.d.).
Fig. 1.1: Time line of 'Virgin Forest' Cover (Draffan, n.d.)
A grey area between man-made and natural obstacles exists within the current problem of wildfires. Periodic, low intensity wildfires are a natural part of a forests cycle (Delcourt, n.d.). These natural fires help reduce ground cover which could be turned into fuel in much larger fires, they improve fertility of soil, and benefit wildlife management (Prescribed Fire, n.d.). However, historically, these facts have been forgotten and wildfires have been suppressed by any means necessary for many years by the parks service and private landowners (Delcourt, n.d.). Many believe that for this very reason, wildfires have been reaching new annual highs for the last 10 years in the United States (McLendon, n.d.); there’s simply to much potential fuel in ground cover, fuel that would have been removed by smaller fires, but these fires were suppressed, leaving the United States with massive wildfires. Global warming is also seen as a culprit in conjunction with the suppression of natural fires, as wildfire sizes seems to be rising with the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (McLendon, n.d.). However, while the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and increasing wildfire size seems compelling, this theory is still unproven.
Fig 1.2: Acres of land burned by wildfire annually (Preusch, 2008).
There is also an interesting theory that the bark beetle infestation in the last decade is adding fuel to the forest fire debate, quite literally. Bark beetles are responsible for the destruction of millions of acres of pine forest on the west coast of the United States (Oldest Utah, 2008). The theory here is that the bark beetle is killing millions of trees, leaving them dead on the ground. These trees then act as even greater sources of fuel than the suppressed ground cover, which leads to humongous wildfires (Oldest Utah, 2008). However, this is again a theory, and while it seems more than likely, there are other parties that dispute this theory, and actually claim the contrary.
Fig. 1.3: Close-up of a Bark Beetle (Fox, 2010).
Huge wildfires as a result of suppressed natural burnings is a huge threat to forest loss in the west, however, another formidable opponent exists in the east, mountaintop removal. Mountaintop removal is a process of coal extraction by means of blasting a mountain top open, while also blowing a great deal of debris into the valleys and streams beneath (Perk, 2010). However, before any of this occurs, first the tops of the mountains are clear-cut of all trees (Perk, 2010). Though many would say that mountain top removal is a crime against biodiversity and the integrity of nature, it is a legal act on the basis of reclamation (Ecological, n.d.). Reclamation in this case means, essentially, that the mining companies are either supposed to “improve” the land, i.e. make the land ready for recreational, commercial, or public purposes, or return the land to its prior state (NRDC, 2010). However, these areas are hardly, if ever, reforested; instead, only fields of non-native grasses are planted by the mining companies (Ecological, n.d.). And because of the compacted soils mountaintop removal produces (Mid-Atlantic, 2011), these pastures may take hundreds of years to once again become reforested naturally (Ecological, n.d.). According to the EPA, by 2012, its estimated that 1.4 million acres of forest will be lost to mountaintop removal. And while this number may sound small compared to the almost 10 million acres of forest lost to wildfires in 2007, its important to keep in mind that the land lost to mountaintop removal is much more permanent and is forever shaping that land.
My educated opinion on the future of United States forest growth and cover is that is will stay much the same it has in the last 100 years, despite all of the looming threats to US forest, i.e. logging, wildfires, bark beetles, mountaintop removal, etc. I do not believe forest cover will grow to new record breaking highs, nor will it dip to any lows, I feel it will stay within the same +/- 5% it has for the last century. Though wildfires and bark beetles are consuming millions of acres of forest in the west, these are natural disasters due to natural circumstances. The west has been experiencing a relatively prolonged drought in current history; this plays a lot into the spread of wildfires, as the wood is uncharacteristically dry. It also plays a role in the Bark Beetle epidemic; the pines natural defense against Bark Beetles is sap, trees can quite literally flood out Bark Beetles (TFREC, n.d.). However, again due to the drought, trees are not producing much sap, and thus, the Bark Beetles thrive. But once the rains return to normal levels, these trees will regenerate, and will likely be in even greater health due to all the nutrients put into the soil by the felled and burned trees. Mountaintop removal has a more lasting effect on forest, and though this author does believe mountaintop removal is an absolute shame, these forests will also regenerate, albeit at a much slower pace. And as stated above, logging is a much more regulated science these days than it once was, and at the current rate or replenishment, logging is no longer having a lasting effect on American forests.
I expect forest cover in the United States to stay constant with current historical trends; there are some looming threats to dropping numbers, however, we are replenishing our forests at an input rate greater than output rate (Stephens, 2010), so while these looming threats may effect forest numbers in the short term, I would suspect our forest coverage will maintain a constant average in the long term.
References
Delcourt, Paul A., Hazel R. Delcourt, Cecil R. Ison, and William E. Sharp. "Forest Health: Prescribed Burning." US Forest Service - Caring for the land and serving people.. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Draffan, George. "Map of Virgin Forest in the US Over Time." Endgame Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
"Ecological Impacts of Mountaintop Removal « Appalachian Voices." Appalachian Voices. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
"Forest Service Shifts Away from Old-Growth Logging." Alaska Conservation Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Fox, Stuart. "To Deter Plague of Bark Beetles, A Boombox Blasting Bug Sounds | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. N.p., 2 Feb. 2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.
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McLendon, Russell. "Are wildfires getting worse? | MNN - Mother Nature Network." Environmental News and Information | MNN - Mother Nature Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
"Mid-Atlantic Mountaintop Mining | US EPA." US Environmental Protection Agency. N.p., 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Nix, Steve. "U.S. Forest Facts | Forestry Trend Data in the United States." The Complete Forests, Trees and Forestry Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
"NRDC: Press Release - The Myth of Mountaintop Removal Reclamation." NRDC: Natural Resources Defense Council - The Earth's Best Defense. N.p., 17 May 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
"Oldest Utah newspaper: Bark-beetle driven wildfires are a vicious climate cycle." Climate Progress. N.p., 16 Sept. 2008. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.
"Prescribed Fire: Using Fire Wisely, Division of Forestry- FDACS." Welcome to the Florida Division of Forestry- FDACS. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Preusch, Matthew. "2007 Fire Season SOS Forests." Western Institute for Study of the Environment. N.p., 1 May 2008. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Perk, Rob. "Mountaintop Removal: Farewell to Forests | Rob Perks's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC." Home | Switchboard, from NRDC. N.p., 30 July 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Stephens, DeAnna. Forest Facts: Telling the Truth About the Forest Products Industry and the Environment. 2010. Online Document.
"TFREC Entomology Bark Beetles." TFREC Entomology. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.
"United States has 7th highest rate of primary forest loss." Conservation and environmental science news. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
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