report titled ENDANGERED ECOSYSTEMS OF THE UNITED STATES: A
PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF LOSS AND DEGRADATION, available from the
National Biological Service (NBS), a research organization within
the federal Department of Interior. We obtained the report over
the Internet,[3] and its conclusions are stunning:
** 90 percent of its ancient or "old-growth" forests have been
lost.
** 95-98 percent of the virgin forests in the lower 48 states had
been destroyed by 1990; 99 percent of the virgin Eastern
deciduous forests have been eliminated.
** In the Northeast, 97 percent of Connecticut's coastline is
developed; 95 percent of Maryland's natural barrier island
beaches are gone; and almost all of Ohio's bottomland hardwood
forests are gone.
Just a side note you might say: While I fully agree with the above in
Massachusetts anway there are now more trees than there were in the late
1700's-1800's. They are not old growth trees of course, but with the amount
of suburban sprawl we got going it's amazing anyway. But I believe its due
to the fact that where open space is still undeveloped it is not acres and
acres of pasture and cultivated farmland like it was one and two centuries
ago. Beth
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