North American Forest Environment Under Stress

Environmental Degradation of American and Canadian Forests

Mar 10, 2009 Laurence O'Sullivan

The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 edited by Lynn Ball and published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2006, shows that the United States and Canada contain over 17% of the world’s forest area, with Canada having 310 million hectares while the United States has over 300 million hectares of forested land. The assessment makes clear that while North American forests are not as environmentally threatened as the tropical rainforest, they are under some stress, chiefly from economic exploitation and to a lesser degree from climate change.

North American Forests and Human Activity

Human activity driven by economic exploitation is the main danger to the North American forest environment.

• Forests on the Edge, by Susan M. Stein, published by the USDA Forest Service in May 2005 states, “In 15 years alone (1982 to 1997), 10.3 million acres of non federal forest land, most of which is private, were converted to developed uses and urban areas. This is the equivalent of 680,000 acres per year”.

• The State of America’s Forests, by Mila Alvarez, published by the Society of American Foresters in 2007 opines that, “more than 44 million acres of private forestlands could experience substantial increases in housing density in the next three decades”.

• Cut & Run, by Christy Ferguson and published by Greenpeace Canada in April 2008 states, “Unfortunately, as logging in Canada’s Boreal Forest continues to push north, intact areas are becoming more and more rare: 41 per cent of the treed area of the Boreal Forest has already been fragmented by logging and other industrial development, and 45 per cent has been allocated for logging".

• The U.S. Forest Resource Facts and Historical Trends, by W. Brad Smith and published by the USDA Forest Service in 2005 states, “19% of the family forest land is owned by people who are 75 years or older, and an additional 26% is owned by people between the ages of 65 and 75. This relatively advanced age portends the transfer of a substantial amount of forest land in the near future”.

• Referring to Canada’s Boreal forests, which it describes as havens of biodiversity, Canada’s Forests at a Crossroads, edited by Wynet Smith and published by The World Resource Institute in 2000 states, “However, these forests are being opened up, primarily for energy and mineral resources, but also for timber. The potential impacts of these activities are unknown.”

Climate Change and the Forest Environment

Forests can be both a carbon sink and a carbon source. At the moment North American forests are a net carbon sink, but with continuing exploitation this may change in the future.

• The article “Forest Disturbance and North American Carbon Flux”, by S. N. Goward et al, in the March 2008 edition of the journal EOS states, “North America’s forests are thought to be a significant sink for atmospheric carbon. Currently, the rate of sequestration by forests on the continent has been estimated at 0.23 petagrams of carbon per year. This offsets about 13% of the fossil fuel emissions from the continent”

• The Impact of Climate Change on America’s Forests, by Linda Joyce and published by the USDA Forest Service argues that global warming will have a negative effect on North American Forests. She states that, “Boreal forests and taiga-tundra regions are predicted to move northward at the expenses of the tundra, warmer scenarios produce the largest impacts on the boreal forest, but may also be responsible for forest dieback on the conterminous U.S.”.

Although not in as much environmental danger as tropical rainforests, the temperate and boreal forests of North America are under environmental stress. To preserve these havens of diversity and to help mitigate carbon dioxide emissions the peoples of the United States and Canada will have to ensure that these environmental assets are managed in a sustainable way.