>Am I to read this right. The amount of Forest Land is increasing in NYS? > >Jim Maguire >[log in to unmask] Yes, indeed. Although when we see the relentless march of the suburbs into the countryside and see open space gobbled up by malls and housing developments, this seems counterintuitive, in fact the entire Northeast is much more extensively forested than it was a century ago, mostly because of abandoned farms. Even in the Adirondacks, there is more mature forest today than there was in 1910. Bill McKibben had an interesting and useful article on this phenomenon: "An Explosion of Green," The Atlantic Monthly, Apr 1995. p.61-83. cheers, phil Philip G. Terrie, Director American Culture Studies Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OH 43403 (419) 372-8886 (phone) (419) 372-7537 (fax) [log in to unmask]