My message about the New Hampshire forests remains in my head as we discuss global warming. I found a series of images of dioramas that show the basic history of New England forest, exactly what I was talking about.
http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu...landscape.html
Because the images may go away, and because people won't follow the link, I've saved them and will put them up here.
Think about it: this is a cycle that is so long, we don't see it in one lifetime. The images below cover 15 generations. We tore the New England forest down not once, but twice, because we needed to go periods of high consumption during rapid growth.
Then we learned to do more with less. We learned to use better fuels, better building materials, and how to move food from better farmlands. Then we learned a cultural practice of maintaining and not overconsuming the land.
93% of New England forest land is on private property. But the forests have returned. This forest was not
sustainable in 1850. Today it is.
1700: Pre-settlement
1740: Early sporadic settlement
1830-1880: 70% deforestation for agriculture and fuel
1850-19??: Abandonment of farmland
1910: White pines encroach on abandoned farmland
1915: Cutting of white pines lead to hardwood succession
1930: Hardwood forest grows vigorously
2000: Mature forest succeeds despite new dense population