Transcript:
Before European settlement, forests blanketed about a billion acres of what is now the continental U.S. But large swaths of those forests were later cleared for farming or to build cities and towns.
Jason Milks of The Nature Conservancy says replanting trees in some of those areas could help reduce climate change.
Milks: “Restoring forests where they have occurred historically … is one of the most powerful tools we have to sequester carbon out of the atmosphere.”
It’s not possible everywhere.
Milks: “We need productive agriculture. We live in cities and communities that aren’t going to have full forest coverage.”
But in many areas – like unused pastures, flood-prone fields, river banks, and sprawling lawns – people could plant trees without interfering with other important land uses.
So the Nature Conservancy developed a free online tool called the Reforestation Hub.
On an interactive map of the U.S., users can zoom in on any county or tract of land.
In each area, they can see how many acres are suitable for planting trees and how much carbon dioxide those trees could pull from the atmosphere each year.
So the data can help identify opportunities for reforestation, one area at a time.
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
