Importantly, older trees are also more valuable for biodiversity than younger trees because they support a wider range of species. Nonetheless, it is now evident that big, old trees are highly important components of ancient forests, in terms of biodiversity and both carbon uptake and storage.

Why are old growth forests important? Old growth forests play essential roles in wildlife habitat, species diversity, hydrological regimes, nutrient cycles, carbon storage, and numerous other ecological processes.

Second-growth stands are ecologically much different from old-growth stands because after 20–30 years, the stands often reach the stem exclusion stage where pole-sized trees grow so tightly packed that light does not reach the forest floor, and understory forage does not grow.

Old-Growth Forests Often Have Incredible Biodiversity These include functions like protecting nearby water systems, encouraging the formation of healthy soil, and breaking down ambient air pollution.

Old-growth canopies develop into deep, complex structures that can last for centuries, even though individual trees die. The stand-level longevity of the canopy makes it possible for epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants) to thrive in the less-shaded upper canopy layers.

Across the country, there are still groves of old-growth forests deep within a wilderness valley, protected in a recreational area or even in someone’s backyard.

Ancient cedars (right) and virgin stands of forest (left) are interspersed with beautiful waterfalls in Alaska’s Tongass. An old growth forest is one of the terms used to describe a forest area that has been able to age significantly without human or natural alterations.

The world has 1.11 billion ha of primary forest remaining.

The DNR defines old growth forests as forests that have developed over a long period of time, essentially free from catastrophic disturbances. They contain large, old trees of long-lived species that are beyond traditional rotation (harvest) age. They also include rare species or native plant communities.

Half of the forests that originally covered 48 percent of the Earth’s land surface are gone. Only one-fifth of the Earth’s original forests remain pristine and undisturbed.

According to one estimate, stands of century-old forest now account for only 7% of forest cover in the United States (USDA-FS 2000). Since 1600, 90% of the virgin forests that once covered much of the lower 48 states have been cleared away.

As of 2016, roughly 36.21% (about one-third of the U.S.) is forested. Excluding the U.S. territories, forested land in the U.S. covers roughly 818,814,000 acres (3,313,622 square kilometers). As of 2005, the United States ranked seventh in the rate of loss of its old growth forests.

Since the turn of the century, satellite images and deforestation studies reveal a dramatic decrease in the age and stature of forests, with a substantial increase in the amount of younger forest areas (which stand under 140 years old).

As such, the news reports about the fire strike a fear that one of the last great forests is disappearing. That’s completely untrue. Forests are making a comeback! More precisely, the tree cover of the planet is increasing.

The annual rate of net forest loss declined from 19.2 million acres in 1990–2000 to 12.8 million acres in 2000–2010 and 11.6 million acres in 2010–2020. Between 2015 and 2020, the annual global rate of deforestation was estimated at around 25 million acres, down from 30 million acres between 2010 and 2015.

Russia

In the United States, which contains 8 percent of the world’s forests, there are more trees than there were 100 years ago. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), “Forest growth nationally has exceeded harvest since the 1940s.

True or False: There are more trees today than there were 100 years ago. The good news is that the answer is a resounding “TRUE”! Even though the usage of trees has increased almost 400% since 1920, through proper forest management we actually have an increase in tree growth.

The U.S. has been been steadily adding back forests since the 1940s. According to the The North American Forest Commission, we have two-thirds of the trees that we had in the year 1600. The total tree gains have been most heavily concentrated on America’s eastern coast, where trees have doubled in the last 70 years.

In a time when the world is experiencing the devastating effects of global warming and deforestation, trees have left has never been more relevant. Globally, there are estimated to be 3.04 trillion trees.

There are no trees There are four countries with no forest whatsoever, according to the World Bank’s definition: San Marino, Qatar, Greenland and Oman.

3.04 Trillion trees make for almost 422 trees per person.