this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2024
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[–] actually 36 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Texas is nothing but trees in the east, and no trees in the west.

But none of it are the original ecosystems: all the trees in the east were cut down and now it’s more or less a mono-culture of pines, with many invasive species; the plains were destroyed with a few holdouts; and I have no clue about in the west but I suspect that was messed up too.

But even 150 years ago a lot of forests in the east were still multistory with different layers of canopy. If left alone, someone said it would takes thousand of years for them to grow back to that.

Right now it’s just dense small pines cut down every few years, all over the state, and hard to walk though. Much easier to travel through earlier.

I live in the east where there was fifteen thousand years of history here, and a few thousand years of villages and larger settlements and several languages. But most those are forgotten because of the genocide which ended in my great great grandfather’s time.

But even earlier a previous ecosystem was destroyed by hunting out the large animals, which fundamentally changed the look of area. Trees just grow differently when there are large herbivores. There were more open areas in the forests too.

And in another hundred years most of these pine forests will be gone too, thanks to global warming. Probably too dry and hot that will blow off the top soil, causing rapid desertification . And the current people will move , most of them, and once again the land will forget its nature and people, towns will be forgotten.

[–] 3ntranced 4 points 3 days ago

The Woodlands, TX resident. Can confirm, many trees over here. Further east and it's just trees, the ents are migrating.

[–] FlyingSquid 38 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

The 21% for Indiana is a little deceptive, because the northern half of the state is not very wooded at all, but the further south from Indianapolis you get, the more forested it gets. You can see it on this satellite map.

The glaciers pushed all the land in the south upward and made it very hilly, which is good tree country. As for the north, it's not because forests were clear cut. It's actually for a worse reason. The north used to be part of one of the world's biggest wetlands, the Grand Kankakee Marsh. It's been almost entirely drained for farmland.

https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/opinion/2016/01/02/andrea-neal-draining-of-kankakee-basin-destroyed-indiana-habita/46557981/

[–] [email protected] 32 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What exactly is deceptive about that?

[–] FlyingSquid 4 points 4 days ago (4 children)

Because it's not evenly distributed, but a good 30% of the state is heavily forested and another good 20% is forested but not heavily so. The map gives an impression (for each state really) that it is an even distribution in some way. Really, doing this in a state-by-state way as if political boundaries all made geographic sense is not very informative.

[–] captainlezbian 21 points 4 days ago

I would expect most to not be evenly distributed. Florida’s forests are likely largely the Everglades, and I’d suspect New Mexico’s are up north outside the desert.

And yeah, here in Ohio the remaining forests are largely in the south, but we were once a very forested state

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 days ago

I don't why you get an impression from the original infographic that it implies even distribution. I don't get that at all.

[–] chuckleslord 16 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Minnesota is heavily wooded, but only up north. It's not deceptive, it's how trees work.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

How do the trees know to stay north? They got Tree-PS or something?

[–] chuckleslord 4 points 4 days ago

The south is where the forests from Canada give way to the Great Plains of the Midwest. Just a quirk of the geography.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's a safe bet most of these aren't evenly distributed.

[–] AngryCommieKender 2 points 4 days ago

I would wager Maine is fairly evenly distributed, but that seems like a safe bet.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I guess I know the tree cover isn’t equally distributed, but it’s not necessarily my first thought, either. Pretty human mistake.

Thanks for the interesting and informative comment. I had no idea Indiana was like that. However, I did know that Ohio is similar because I’ve done research on Hocking Hills, and one of the things I read also talked about the park being outside the range of glacial erosion and how, in general, the more southerly areas represent ancient geology.

Hocking Hills is a lovely, if heavily visited, state park in Ohio.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Who we calling deceptive? The GKM was big, but it wasn't "no forests in northern Indiana" big.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topical_steroid_withdrawal?wprov=sfla1

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago (6 children)

i genuinely cannot imagine such a large piece of land being 2% forest, i would lose my mind travelling through that

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (4 children)

It's even stranger than that.

There are a fair few trees here. But most of them aren't natural, they were planted. Planted in perfectly straight, compass-axis lines that run for about a kilometer each, slicing the plain into a giant square checker pattern.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

picture a 60 mph / 100 kmph road with one lane on each side winding between endless hills covered with medium height yellow grass and dotted with the occasional grazing cow, elk, etc.

That's what most of the state looks like in my experience. Pretty beautiful.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

sure it's beautiful, the ocean is beautiful too, but that much open space would make me so uncomfortable. Denmark is bad enough.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

The ground isn't even the unnerving part; it's how much of your vision is taken up by empty sky. It makes you feel absolutely miniscule

[–] captainlezbian 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

My family drove through Kansas once when I was a kid, and yep, the Great Plains are kinda rough on the head if you aren’t used to open grasslands. It’s like being on the ocean but grassland instead of water. Just grass and land as far as the eye can see

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

It's got it's own beauty in a way. Soft rolling hills and an endless horizon.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I grew up there, it’s a tundra/prairie biome. I grew up in the he’ll creek formation area though so lots of buttes. Any trees were largely planted by settlers.

It’s quite beautiful in its own right. Just avoid the eastern part of the state, that bits flat as a board and about as boring.

[–] PriorityMotif 1 points 3 days ago

In the fall the Farmers harvest their corn and soybeans. We live in a very flat are. In the winter you can see the frozen dirt all the way to the horizon.

[–] StereoCode 14 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Maine represent! That's right only about a million people live here.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Mississippi, Jesus.

The black belt is such a massively underrepresented area in media I guess I shouldn't be surprised I had no idea it was forested.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The only reason Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio are so low is because of the massive farms. They were originally all forest.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

It must be that everything east of the Great Plains was originally, in America. In Canada the boreal forest stretches coast to coast (and hasn't gotten much smaller to date).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

There weren't many meadows before humans came, it was all forrest.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Not in the East, anyway. The Great plains have always been massive grasslands.

[–] captainlezbian 13 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Did not expect Alabama to be on the same level as West Virginia and Vermont

[–] BetaBlake 11 points 4 days ago

Alabamian here, it's nothing but trees here, I haven't seen open land in years

[–] MutilationWave 7 points 4 days ago

The forests are one of the few things left to love about my godforsaken state (WV).

[–] superduperpirate 13 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I’m surprised Nevada is that high

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 days ago

Apparently the Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada is the largest U.S. National Forest reservation outside of Alaska

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Not quite the forest most people picture

[–] Iheartcheese 7 points 4 days ago

Forest of SECRET UFO BASES

[–] CptInsane0 11 points 4 days ago

Alabama: "for now. We'll show that nature what's what."

[–] III 5 points 3 days ago

Nebraska is fucking up their Arbor Day

[–] FourPacketsOfPeanuts 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Alabama accent: grow forest, grow!

[–] aeronmelon 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That’s… why it’s called the Great Plains.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

...they're pretty great but they're also pretty plain...

[–] 3ntranced 1 points 3 days ago

I've been. They're alright, I wouldn't say they're GREAT but I won't go out of my way to avoid them.

[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree 3 points 3 days ago

I thought Missouri had more forest than that

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

Would be more informative if it was grouped by the dominant forest type. Different types have a different distribution and density

[–] nl4real 3 points 4 days ago

Pleasantly surprised my state (WV) is 3rd.

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