This Map Shows Where All The Trees Are In The US

TBI ^ | 1-`12-2012 | Dina Spector

[blam]

This Map Shows Where All The Trees Are In The US

Dina Spector
Jan. 12, 2012, 2:48 PM

NASA's Earth Observatory just released a map illustrating where all the trees are in America.

The map was created over six years by Josef Kellndorfer and Wayne Walker of the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey.

The dark swaths of green represent parts of the country with the greatest concentration of biomass.

You can see dense tree cover in the Pacific Northwest as well New England, which has been reforested after intensive logging in the 18th and 19th centuries.

[KoRn]

Nice!

Would have been awesome to have lived back then.(well, probably not lol). Perhaps spending a week there in a time machine would suffice. I’ll be sure to take my laptop and post my experiences on FR.

[rlmorel]

Wow! I had no idea those things lived that long!

About twenty miles from my house was a 300 year old Maple tree called the Crocker Maple, and I believe it fell in an ice storm last year.

When I saw that tree a few years back, I admit there was something awesome about standing there looking at it, just imagining everything that tree had presided over.

[Theoria]

No kidding. It's like something out of Sherwood forest.

I can't imagine all the different hurricanes and storms it has faced over the years.

[The_Reader_David]

Actually, most of the non-green areas in the map would have been the same 500 or 1000 years ago: prairie, desert, and mountain tundra.

[rlmorel]

I’m with you on that, cripplecreek. Liberals think we have to baby nature, but the truth is, it is a lot more powerful than we are.

Doesn’t mean we have to intentionally mistreat it, but it is one of the reason the whole global warming scam just infuriates me.

People would be amazed at how fast nature would cover up what we have done after we are gone. Just human conceit...

[rlmorel]

Hahaha! That VPN tunnel back to the future will be a trick to set up!

[cripplecreek]

Big ole maple tree at my grandmother's house. That's my F150 parked 25 or 30 feet behind it on the road.

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

The tallest trees on earth are the coastal redwoods. But 100 years ago, that was probably not the case. They were perhaps exceeded in height by a few Douglas firs, but they were almost certainly exceeded in height by the Australian mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans). Lumbering in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries opened up the moist forests. Catastophic fires eventually ravaged the now drying habitat.

The best habitat, in eastern Australia, has been degraded. A lesser habitat, The Styx River Valley (aka The Valley of the Giants) in Tasmania, still retains a few trees taller than 300 feet in height.

Here is a photo that gives a hint of what once was:

>

[KoRn]

"That VPN tunnel back to the future will be a trick to set up!"

I know I can do it! I've been working hard on getting the endpoints to talk over the distance in time. I'm sure I'll have to do away with the SHA/AES256 encryption to keep things as simple as possible for the link.

[cripplecreek]

I’m a true conservationist in the truest sense of the word but I don’t see anything wrong with driving dangerous animals away from population centers.

I grew up wandering the southern Michigan woods with no fear of running into anything more dangerous than a raccoon. Today we have confirmed black bears, unconfirmed mountain lions, and we’re overrun with coyotes.

[blam]

"I live in the middle of a Pecan orchard, none this year due to the drought (texas), so many trees here, I guess thats why Ferdinand Lindheimer (Texas botanist) moved here when Comanches were still roaming these parts."

Pecans worldwide have their origins in Texas and Northern Mexico.

I just completed chopping down one of my 100 year old pecan trees because lightning struck it. A local guy cut it up and hauled it away to sell as fire wood. Or, maybe to a restaurant for BBQ wood.

There are pecan trees there in Texas (on the Blanco River) that must be 20 feet in diameter. I could park my car behind them and you couldn't see the car.
PS...I retired from TI, Houston.

[sand88]

I hiked some in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Hurricane Ridge has some of the most breathtaking scenery I have ever seen.

[Mears]

This makes me glad I live in MA.,which is usually not the case.

Nice chart.

[blam]

"We have more trees in New York than you have in Alabama. Ha ha! ;-)"

We have the world collegiate football champions for three consecutive years, ha, ha.

* 2009 Alabama
* 2010 Auburn
* 2011 Alabama

Eat your heart out.

BTW, the Alabama football program realized a profit of $45 million (after expenses) this year. Trees are not the only green.......

[Verginius Rufus]

At one time a squirrel could travel from tree to tree from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River without ever needing to get down on the ground, according to a character in Peanuts.

That seems to me like a pretty trustworthy source.

[al_c]

Well, I encourage ya to head down to the coast[Rockport] and see the 1000-2000 year old Live oak[Goose Island Oak].

Ah, Rockport. One of my favorite getaways. Come on, retirement ... I'm ready to make it a permanent home.

[cripplecreek]

Kid Rock filmed this video here in Michigan and showcased the Michigan we usually keep to ourselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbbrtaNiQMs&feature=player_embedded

Its a great pro American tune as well.

[DuncanWaring]

Just one?

I had three wandering around my back yard a few weeks ago.

[blam]

Inspiration Oak
A 500 year old Live Oak vandalized and killed.