ne of the finest examples of forest management and forest restoration can be found right outside Clark County’s backdoor.
From 1933 to 1951, a series of wildfires in Northern Oregon’s Coast Range burned some 350,000 acres of old-growth timber and became collectively known as the Tillamook Burn. Decades later, after a massive restoration and replanting effort, that area is known as the Tillamook State Forest, and its lush landscape of pines and evergreens is enjoyed by anybody who makes the drive between Portland and the Oregon Coast on U.S. Route 26.
All of this is relevant in the wake of a new study by a group of researchers and the University of Maryland’s department of geographical sciences. Examining satellite data from 2000 through 2012, scientists developed an interactive map showing forest loss and forest gain throughout the world. The study found that 888,000 square miles of forest cover were lost globally during that time period, while 309,000 square miles were gained (a story and interactive map can be found here).
“The thing that to me was shocking was the visual picture of it,” Jurgen Hess, a board member of the Friends of Mount Adams, told Columbian reporter Eric Florip. “You can see it in abstract form when you read about it … but to see these patterns, wow.” Locally, lands south and east of Mount Adams experienced the greatest change among Southwest Washington areas, primarily due to large wildfires in 2008 and 2012. Globally, densely populated developing countries such as Indonesia experienced vast deforestation.