Reforestation
Reforestation is the process of planting trees to restore forested areas that have been depleted, often due to logging, agricultural practices, or industrial pollution. Historically, reforestation efforts began in Western Europe during the late Middle Ages when monarchs recognized the diminishing supply of forests and initiated tree-planting programs to secure timber for shipbuilding. The importance of reforestation was further highlighted in the mid-nineteenth century as environmental concerns emerged, linking deforestation to soil erosion, water pollution, and wildlife habitat loss.
Unlike tree farming, which primarily focuses on growing trees for commercial harvesting, reforestation aims to restore ecosystems, enhance wildlife habitats, and reverse environmental degradation. This includes understanding the complex interactions within forest ecosystems and promoting biodiversity by planting mixed stands of trees. Reforestation also plays a critical role in combating climate change, as trees absorb carbon dioxide, a significant greenhouse gas.
Various programs, such as Global ReLeaf and Arbor Day, advocate for both large-scale reforestation projects and community involvement. These initiatives not only focus on environmental recovery but also emphasize the social aspects, including increasing green spaces in underserved urban communities. Overall, reforestation represents a vital effort to maintain ecological balance, support biodiversity, and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Reforestation
The growth of new trees in an area that has been cleared of trees for commercial forestry or for agriculture is known as reforestation. Reforestation can occur naturally or be initiated by people. Many areas of the eastern United States, such as the New England region, reforested naturally as farmland was abandoned and allowed to lie fallow for decades in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Background
Some form of reforestation to replace trees removed for commercial purposes has been practiced in Western Europe since the late Middle Ages. English monarchs, including Queen Elizabeth I, realized that forests were a vanishing resource and established plantations of oaks and other hardwoods to ensure a supply of ship timbers. Similarly, the kings of Sweden created a corps of royal foresters to plant trees and watch over existing woodlands. These early efforts at reforestation were inspired by the threatened disappearance of a valuable natural resource, but by the mid-nineteenth century, it was widely understood that the removal of forest cover contributed to soil erosion, water pollution, and the disappearance of many species of wildlife. Water falling on hillsides made barren by clear-cutting timber washes away and causes rivers to choke with sediment, killing fish and interfering with navigation. Without trees to slow the flow of water, rain can also run off slopes too quickly, causing rivers to flood.
Safeguarding Timber Resources
After an area has been logged, both environmentalists and the commercial forest industry advocate planting trees rather than waiting for natural regrowth, because the process of natural regeneration can be slow as well as unpredictable. In natural regeneration, the mixture of trees in a naturally reforested area may differ significantly from the forest that preceded it. For example, when nineteenth century loggers clear-cut the white pine forests of the Great Lakes region, many logged-over tracts grew back primarily in mixed hardwoods.
In addition, land that has been damaged by industrial pollution or agricultural practices may have lost the ability to support natural reforestation. In some regions of Africa, soils exposed by slash-and-burn agriculture often contain high levels of iron or aluminum oxide. Without a protective cover of vegetation, even under cultivation soil may undergo a process known as laterization and become rock-hard. Rather than undergoing natural reforestation, such abandoned farmland is more likely to remain barren of almost all plant life for many years. In areas where industrial pollution exists, such as former mining districts, native trees may not be able to tolerate the toxins in the soil; in such cases, more tolerant species must be introduced.
Reforestation differs from tree farming in that the goal of reforestation is not merely to provide woodlands for future harvest. Although tree farming is a type of reforestation in that trees are planted to replace those that have been removed, in tree farming, generally, only one species of tree is planted with the explicit intention that it be harvested later. The trees are seen first as a crop and only incidentally as wildlife habitat or a means of erosion control. As foresters have become more knowledgeable about the complex interactions within forest ecosystems, however, tree-farming methods have begun to change. Rather than monocropping (planting only one variety of tree) on plantations, the commercial forest industry has begun planting mixed stands. Trees once considered undesirable weed trees because they possessed no perceived commercial value are now recognized as nitrogen fixers necessary for the healthy growth of other species. In addition to providing woodlands for possible use in commercial forestry, reforestation includes goals such as wildlife habitat restoration and the reversal of environmental degradation.
Ecological and Environmental Aspects
Scientists did not clearly establish the vital role that trees, particularly those in tropical rainforests, play in removing carbon dioxide from the through the process of photosynthesis until the mid-twentieth century. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas: It helps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. As forests disappear, the risk of global warming—caused in part by an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—becomes greater. For many years, soil conservationists advocated reforestation as a way to counteract the ecological damage caused by erosion. Beginning in the 1980s, scientists and environmental activists concerned about joined foresters and soil conservationists in urging that for every tree removed anywhere, whether to clear land for development or to harvest timber, replacement trees be planted. As the area covered by tropical rainforests shrinks in size, the threat of irreversible damage to the global environment becomes greater. In 1988, American Forests, an industry group, began the Global ReLeaf program to encourage reforestation efforts in an attempt to combat global warming. By the end of 2006, this program planted 25 million trees; by 2016, the American ReLeaf program planted 40 million trees in the United States, and Global ReLeaf planted 10 million trees internationally. In 2020, the program entered its thirtieth year and planted 65 million trees globally. Efforts in America continued to evolve to include Tree Equity scores that aimed to support reforestation in urban communities occupied by mostly African Americans, which have, on average, 33 percent less tree cover than White communities.
Reforestation Programs
In addition to supporting reforestation efforts by government agencies, corporations, and environmental organizations, Global ReLeaf and similar programs encourage individuals to practice reforestation in their own neighborhoods. Trees serve as a natural control, helping to moderate extremes in temperature and wind. Trees in a well-landscaped yard can reduce homeowners’ energy costs by providing shade in the summer and serving as a windbreak during the winter. Global ReLeaf is only one of many programs that support reforestation efforts.
Arbor Day, an annual day devoted to planting trees for the beautification of towns or the forestation of empty tracts of land, was established in the United States in 1872. The holiday originated in Nebraska, a prairie state that seemed unnaturally barren to homesteaders used to eastern woodlands, and initially it emphasized planting trees where none had existed before. Arbor Day is observed in public schools to educate young people about the importance of forest preservation, and in some states it is a legal holiday, usually on the last Friday in April, although some states observe the holiday in January, February, or May, depending on when the weather is best for planting trees in their region. Organizations such as the Arbor Day Foundation provide saplings (young trees) to schools and other organizations for planting in their own neighborhoods.
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