Rethinking Reforestation

According to a recent Boston Globe story, nature lovers have something to celebrate: The forests of New England have made a vibrant comeback. Our region’s forests prove that environmental progress need not be counter to economic development.

Today’s New England boasts an astonishing 80 percent cover by forests—compared to only between 30 percent and 40 percent in the mid-19th century. Our forests are thicker, our wildlife is returning, and our air and water are cleaner.

Some might expect that such environmental progress could only come with drawbacks for economic growth, but such is not the case. To the contrary, New England boasts some of the strongest economies in the country. New England is the shining example of environmental success and economic power, and the dual forces of specialization and regulation have largely created that success.

Specialization paved the way for increased tree cover by vastly changing how the region approached agriculture. Back in the mid-19th century, farms and villages covered most of the region. As the country’s regions specialized, New England was able to devote less and less of its space to such agricultural ventures. Former agricultural workers moved to the city, and their old farmlands were left to nature’s whim. The only traces of these farms are the winding stone walls that meander through the forests.

While the process of specialization has allowed regrowth of trees largely by eliminating large tracts of agricultural land, there is little reason to think that our environmental gains come only at losses for more agricultural parts of the country. While New England agriculture has used progressively less land throughout the last century, it has also grown greener and more efficient, and the sector is far from mordant. And even though New England’s reforestation may not be possible in the agricultural Midwest, that region was just as agricultural 100 years ago as it is today. Specialization makes the whole system more efficient, allowing reforestation in some regions rather than in none.

Environmental regulation, too, has helped New England’s forests. Massachusetts has among the greenest laws in the country, with regulations limiting the kinds of pollutants that often kill trees. Massachusetts has one of the largest state park systems in the country, and large areas of northern New England are nearly boundless tracts of protected wilderness.

New England’s wilderness renaissance should be a source of pride and inspiration for us all. The environmental problems that we face in the modern world really aren’t unsolvable, and neither does solving them necessitate hampering the economy.