From Deforestation to Reforestation in New England, United States

Abstract

This paper considers the reforestation of New England from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. While the historical data are quite limited, I document a post-1850 flattening and eventual reversal of previous New England deforestation, even as population was increasing. Also, within-region population concentration measures based on county data for 1790 to 1930 increase each decade from 1830 — the start of the transportation revolution. Finally, along major rivers population was concentrated in a few cities. Three main points concerning land use are suggested: first, the population level does not fully dictate land use, e.g., de/reforestation; second, “external” factors may be extremely important drivers of regional land use; and third, long-run land-use analysis must look beyond the agricultural framework to consider processes including migration and industrialization. The latter two points raise the possibility that current land-use analysis may lack future policy relevance. Also, these processes suggest mechanisms through which forested area might first drop and then rise with development. However, in New England the sign reversal in the change in forest area depended at least in part upon the ability of other regions of the country to supply food — i.e. New England “exported” its agricultural land clearing — as well as to supply timber. To the extent this is so, the New England experience could not be repeated for all regions as they continue to develop.