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Forests and Land Use
Eight thousand years ago, when humans played only bit parts in the world ecosystem, trees covered two-fifths of the land. Since then, humans have grown in number while thinning and shaving the forests to cook, keep warm, grow crops, plank ships, frame houses, and make paper. Fires, saws, and axes have cleared about half of the original forestland, and some forest, though not all, has been replaced. Some analysts warn that within decades, the remaining natural forests will disappear altogether. A good deal of the planet's biological diversity lives in forests (mostly in the tropics), and this diversity diminishes as trees fall. Healthy forests protect watersheds and generate clean drinking water; they remove carbon dioxide from the air and thus help maintain the climate. The twentieth century witnessed the start of a "Great Restoration" of the world's forests. Efficient farmers and foresters are learning to spare forestland by growing more food and fiber in ever-smaller areas. We study changes in land use and land cover and the prospects for restoration.
Publications about Forests and Land Use
1129 . A National and International Analysis of Changing Forest Density [external link]. PLoS ONE 6(5): 2011 A National and International Analysis of Changing Forest Density, timber volume, forest density, carbon sequestration
0104 . Quandaries of forest area, volume, biomass, and carbon explored with the forest identity [external link]. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 1011: 1-3, 2007 Quandaries of forest area, volume, biomass, and carbon explored with the forest identity, Forest, tree volume, carbon sequestration, allometry
0101 . Returning forests analyzed with forest identity [external link]. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103: 17574-17579, 2006 10.1073/pnas.0608343103Returning forests analyzed with forest identity, Forest, tree volume, carbon sequestration, forest identity, allometry
0100 . Foresters and DNA (PDF). Chapter 2 in Landscapes, Genomics and Transgenic Forests pp. 13-31, 2006 CG Williams (ed), Published by Kluwer, DordrechtForesters and DNA, Forests, innovation, DNA
0093 . On sparing farmland and spreading forest. Forestry at the Great Divide: Proceedings of the Society of American Foresters 2001 Convention, Society of American Foresters, Bethesda MD 127-138, 2002 On sparing farmland and spreading forest, land use, intensive agriculture, precision forestry
0085 . How much will feeding more and wealthier people encroach on forests? (PDF). Population and Development Review 27(2): 239-257, 2001 How much will feeding more and wealthier people encroach on forests?, Forests, land use, agriculture
0080 . Restoring the forests. Foreign Affairs 79(6): 127-144, 2000 Restoring the forests, Forests, land use, agriculture
0077 . The forester's lever: Industrial ecology and wood products. J For 98(10): 8-14, 2000 The forester's lever: Industrial ecology and wood products, Forests, land use, agriculture, wood products, forestry
0056 . Searching for leverage to conserve forests: The industrial ecology of wood products in the U.S.. J Ind Ecol 1(3): 125-145, 1997 Searching for leverage to conserve forests: The industrial ecology of wood products in the U.S., Forests, land use, agriculture, wood products, forestry
0047 . Lightening the tread of population on the land: American examples (PDF). Population and Development Review 22(3): 531-545, 1996 Lightening the tread of population on the land: American examples, population, land use, forestry, agriculture
