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I'm confused by your comment about the Appalachians. Were talking about the last handful of decades, not two centuries. The country is less wild today than ever
by anon84873628 11mo ago
I'm confused by your comment about the Appalachians. Were talking about the last handful of decades, not two centuries. The country is less wild today than ever before. More subdivisions, more strip malls, more farms.
- terminalshort 11mo agoNo it isn't less wild than ever. It was literally clear cut for farming in the 1800s. I know that this goes against some popular narratives, but if you look it up you will find that it is very true. Also the amount of forest land in the US has been increasing in the last few decades too.
- anon84873628 11mo agoIt's not just about forests. Prairie, wetlands, scrublands, and even dessert are all important ecosystems. Are we really claiming that human development hasn't caused significant habitat loss?
- WillPostForFood 11mo agoThis is actually not true, the amount of forest land has been stable for about 100 years. Most of the decline is in the 19th century as population expanded west. https://imgur.com/a/IhmnKWD https://imgur.com/a/IhmnKWD Land dedicated to farming has also declined for the last ~75 years. Peak was 1954 with about 1.16 billion acres. It is down to about 875 million acres. https://ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-detail?chartId=111304 https://ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/chart-deta...
- anon84873628 11mo agoAh well I misspoke then. Everything is fine with the ecosystem and human development isn't the cause of mass extinctions.