29 May '11, 1am
Pine plantations support 90 percent to 95 percent fewer species than natural forests.
I’d single out our southern forests. These are some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world, but the timber industry has been rapidly replacing them with pine plantations. If current trends continue, the acreage of those plantations could increase by 60 percent by 2040, when they would cover an area the size of North Carolina and South Carolina combined. Pine plantations are not actually forests at all. These trees are industrial row crops managed for the purpose of fiber production. They support 90 percent to 95 percent fewer species than natural forests, and they wreak havoc on surrounding ecosystems.