What part of American history makes it difficult for us to suggest halting deforestation in the tropical rainforest? How did deforestation proceed in the United States? How is deforestation there different than it was here?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Timber harvesting propelled the growth of the United States throughout its phenomenal expansion across the continent in the 19th century and into the 20th. Chicago was built with timber felled in the vast pine and hardwood forests of Wisconsin and Michigan. Those forests were virtually stripped of their trees in the 19th century. This followed the clear-cutting of the forests further east, which had been largely replaced by small farms. Logging operations then moved south to the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas to harvest more wood for the growing nation. The pine woodlands of the South were logged and many of them converted to pine plantations. When the largest, most valuable trees had been removed from these areas, timber companies moved west, cutting the continent's biggest trees in the Rockies, the Sierras, the Cascades, and the coast ranges. By the mid-20th century almost no virgin timber was left in the lower 48 states. Many U.S. trends are being paralleled internationally, but some developing nations, such as Brazil, are in the position the United States faced a century or two ago, having a vast frontier to conquer. However, in these countries, deforestation can proceed more quickly because of newer technology. Furthermore, much of the cutting is being done not by the people of those countries but by multinational corporations that export the products elsewhere.