USA Forests' Deforestation

L. David Roper
http://www.roperld.com/personal/roperldavid.htm
7 September, 2017

Rain Forests

Contents

Introduction

In my quest to analyze data of global systems that are affected by or affect global warming, I have been looking for data about the deforestation of USA forests to analyze.

United States Forests' Data

The best data I have found are in the following graph:


http://nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc241.pdf

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I digitized all four curves and added the results to get values for the entire USA:

year
South
North
Pacific
Rocky Mts
Total (10^6 acres)
1630
356
297
242
155
1050
1669
356
298
242
155
1051
1712
356
296
242
155
1049
1733
356
295
242
155
1048
1743
356
294
242
155
1047
1754
355
293
242
155
1045
1765
353
293
242
155
1043
1776
353
288
242
155
1038
1787
352
287
242
155
1036
1797
350
282
242
155
1029
1807
348
275
242
155
1020
1817
346
267
242
155
1010
1828
342
255
242
155
994
1839
337
241
242
155
974
1849
331
226
242
155
954
1860
327
219
242
155
943
1869
313
204
241
154
912
1880
305
185
240
153
883
1890
284
159
239
152
834
1900
265
149
238
152
804
1912
244
139
237
151
772
1923
230
135
238
149
752
1934
223
153
237
148
761
1944
229
158
231
142
760
1954
229
163
231
141
764
1965
221
163
226
140
750
1974
214
164
223
141
742
1983
215
166
222
142
746
2002
218
167
222
143
751

More recent data: 2010: 751.3; 2012: 766.2

Fit to the Data

I used the hyperbolic tangent function to fit the data. The best fit is:

The fit is , where a = 1043, b = 757.0, t0 = 1869 and w = 42.23 .

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Conclusion

Forest area in the United States has stopped the sharp decline that existed for about 100 years. However, recent research indicates that USA forests are slowly continuing to decline area by about 6x106 acres per year.

References

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0427-hance_forestloss.html:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=44717&src=eorss-iotd:

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http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/biology/a_forest.html:

Forest Fires

From https://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/fireInfo_stats_totalFires.html:

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L. David Roper interdisciplinary studies

L. David Roper, http://www.roperld.com/personal/roperldavid.htm