Fort Worth Star-Telegram February 23, 2005

 Texas Has Largest Tree Loss

  (Excerpt)

  

          Over the past 50 years, according to the Forest Service, 24 states added woodland-seven of them more than 1,000,000 acres each.  New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania were the biggest gainers.  Texas, Florida and California lost the most. 

          Only 10% of the land in Ohio was forest in 1910, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

          Two-day trees cover more than 30 percent of the state, although its population has more than doubled.

          Ohio was one of the first states in the country to develop a forestry program to provide incentives for landowners to protect woodlands and prevent fires, said John Dorka, chief Forrester at the state's natural resources department.

          New York has almost 6 million more acres of forest than it had in 1920.  Pennsylvania gained 4.4 million acres.  Almost 90 percent of Maine is tree-covered, up from 62 percent a century ago?

          To be sure, the newly planted timber isn't the same as pristine old-growth forests, but the United States is a rare bright spot in a world that's rapidly losing its forests.

          Eastern forests have staged a major comeback, said Douglas McCleery, a Forest Service historian.

          Texas, however, has lost 8 million acres since 1920 and Florida almost 4 million.

          The Forest Service projects that all areas of the country, even the Northeast, will lose woodlands by 2050.

   

Trees lost in Texas

 The following list shows Texas loss of woodland in millions of acres from 1760 through 2000.  Data before 1880 are estimated:

 

2000   17.1

1990   20.5

1980     3.3

1970     24.1

1960    24.0

1950    24.7

1940    26.9

1920    25.1

1900    32.1

1880    36.7

1860    39.2

1840    42.0

1820    42.0

1800    42.0

1780    42.0

1760    42.0

 

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