>>Comments inline
>>
>>>SNIP>
>>- there are more trees now than at any time in this country's history
>
>Hard to believe..
>
>From http://fia.fs.fed.us/library/briefings-summaries-overviews/docs/ForestFactsMetric.pdf
>
>"It is estimated that - at the beginning of European settlement -
>in 1630 the area of forest land that would become
>the United States was 423 million hectares or about 46
>percent of the total land area. By 1907, the area of forest
>land had declined to an estimated 307 million hectares or
>34 percent of the total land area. Forest area has been relatively
>stable since 1907. In 1997, 302 million hectares -
>or 33 percent of the total land area of the United States-
>was in forest land. Today's forest land area amounts to
>about 70 percent of the area that was forested in 1630.
>Since 1630, about 120 million hectares of forest land
>have been converted to other uses-mainly agricultural.
>More than 75 percent of the net conversion to other uses
>occurred in the 19th century."

I goofed, should've been last 100 years.