Because this report focuses on hardwood resources, much of the discussion centers on forests of the eastern one-half of the United States, referred to hereafter as simply the "East." Much the same trend in forestland area can be seen for the East as for the U.S. as a whole: a marked decline in forest area occurred between 1630 and 1907, and the area of forest largely stabilized after 1907. An examination of Figure 8 shows that more of the original forest cover was lost in the East than for the nation overall; whereas forests today cover about 72 percent of the land area that was forested nationwide in 1630, the same statistic for the East is only 59 percent.

 

The fact that the area of forestland in the U.S. has remained more or less constant for the better part of the past 100 years despite rapid economic expansion and population growth is encouraging. However, when trends are expressed in terms of forestland per capita the data is a bit sobering (Table 3). This trend can also be seen in data for U.S. hardwood forestland (Table 4).

Table 3
Forests Then, Now, and Future - U.S.