Cycloptichorn wrote:okie wrote:Prove there are less trees in the continental U.S. now than in 1776. Prove it.
Who said anything about the continental US? It's GLOBAL tree coverage that matters, ya maroon! Our environment doesn't just hover over our nation, self contained....
Just quit while you can, honestly.
But just to prove your bullshit wrong, here ya go.
Area of primary forests in the United States (lower 48)
(around 1620, top; and 1850 middle; 1920, bottom)
Quote:
Since 1600, 90% of the virgin forests that once covered much of the lower 48 states have been cleared away. Most of the remaining old-growth forests in the lower 48 states and Alaska are on public lands. In the Pacific Northwest about 80% of this forestland is slated for logging.
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/deforest/deforest.html
More:
Quote:
Prior to the arrival of European-Americans about one half of the United States land area was forest, about 4 million square kilometers (1 billion acres) in 1600. For the next 300 years land was cleared, mostly for agriculture at a rate that matched the rate of population growth. For every person added to the population, one to two hectares of land was cultivated.[42] This trend continued until the 1920s when the amount of crop land stabilized in spite of continued population growth. As abandoned farm land reverted to forest the amount of forest land increased from 1952 reaching a peak in 1963 of 3,080,000 km² (762 million acres). Since 1963 there has been a steady decrease of forest area with the exception of some gains from 1997. Gains in forest land have resulted from conversions from crop land and pastures at a higher rate than loss of forest to development. Because urban development is expected to continue, an estimated 93,000 km² (23 million acres) of forest land is projected be lost by 2050[43], a 3% reduction from 1997. Other qualitative issues have been identified such as the continued loss of old-growth forest,[44] the increased fragmentation of forest lands, and the increased urbanization of forest land.[45]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation#United_States
Wikipedia reports a total drop by 1/4.
One F*CKING minute of googling, Okie. One minute.
Cycloptichorn
You do realize that the maps you posted are at best somebodies guess.
There is no way that anyone can say with any type of certainty how much forestation there was in the 1600's or the 1800's, and even in the 1920's its only a rough guess.
There was no way to adequately or accurately measure forestation until we had a way to get overhead shots,mainly sattelite.
