Thank you for writing about the importance of forests in the US. I enjoyed your article and appreciate your call for more writing about trees. One aspect of reforestation that I am interested in is how agroforestry can restore trees on land currently devoted to annual row crop agriculture. I work for the Savanna Institute, and we are catalyzing the widespread adoption of agroforestry in the Midwest. We recently partnered with Joe Fargione at TNC on a large grant-funded project to scale up tree planting on farms. I think the combination of agroforestry, the Homegrown National Park Movement, and Food Forests can help slow and potentially reverse the deforestation trend. I am working to help people connect with trees in their yards so they can develop a deeper appreciation, commitment, and willingness to advocate for trees.
Agroforestry seems to have a lot of potential. As you say, it provides the benefits of forest restoration while also providing food, so it doesn't require taking land out of production. I touched on it in a story I wrote last year - https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/15/wild-foods-foraging-eating-healthy/. I am wondering whether it is scalable, given that one must wait many years for a crop (compared to just a few months for annuals), and how it can be integrated into our annual crop-driven food system.
We are scaling up agroforestry in a variety of ways. Some of our practices involve combining annual and perennial production to maintain income during the establishment period. Alley cropping, grazing livestock in alleys, and growing crops that mature quickly with slower-growing crops are strategies we use. We are also planting trees on existing row crop farms in the form of riparian buffers and windbreaks. The reality of climate change is also helping us increase the scale of agroforestry. We are part of two USDA grant-funded projects that have received $80 million in funding to support agroforestry adoption.
I could not find it @ english RT, but there are translating programs.
Shifting from wood & coal to oil & gas was very good for forests, but now crazy people spread the idea, that burning fresh biomass is better for what ever, as burning old biomass.
You contradicted yourself. Lumber for houses is the main driver of deforesation in the United States, close to half of the total. Other countries build their houses with masonry, concrete, and steel. Their houses last for centuries. Ours last for decades. Google Earth the West Coast. It's a disaster zone of clearcuts and failed monoculture tree plantations.
Lumber is not driving deforestation in the US. Virtually all land from which timber is harvested is replanted with trees. Deforestation occurs when a forest is replaced by another land use (agriculture, houses, solar panels, etc).
Thank you for writing about the importance of forests in the US. I enjoyed your article and appreciate your call for more writing about trees. One aspect of reforestation that I am interested in is how agroforestry can restore trees on land currently devoted to annual row crop agriculture. I work for the Savanna Institute, and we are catalyzing the widespread adoption of agroforestry in the Midwest. We recently partnered with Joe Fargione at TNC on a large grant-funded project to scale up tree planting on farms. I think the combination of agroforestry, the Homegrown National Park Movement, and Food Forests can help slow and potentially reverse the deforestation trend. I am working to help people connect with trees in their yards so they can develop a deeper appreciation, commitment, and willingness to advocate for trees.
Agroforestry seems to have a lot of potential. As you say, it provides the benefits of forest restoration while also providing food, so it doesn't require taking land out of production. I touched on it in a story I wrote last year - https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/15/wild-foods-foraging-eating-healthy/. I am wondering whether it is scalable, given that one must wait many years for a crop (compared to just a few months for annuals), and how it can be integrated into our annual crop-driven food system.
We are scaling up agroforestry in a variety of ways. Some of our practices involve combining annual and perennial production to maintain income during the establishment period. Alley cropping, grazing livestock in alleys, and growing crops that mature quickly with slower-growing crops are strategies we use. We are also planting trees on existing row crop farms in the form of riparian buffers and windbreaks. The reality of climate change is also helping us increase the scale of agroforestry. We are part of two USDA grant-funded projects that have received $80 million in funding to support agroforestry adoption.
Worst deforestation is happening in western Ukraine just now
https://gegenzensur.rtde.live/international/162494-kahle-karpaten-wer-ist-fuer/
I could not find it @ english RT, but there are translating programs.
Shifting from wood & coal to oil & gas was very good for forests, but now crazy people spread the idea, that burning fresh biomass is better for what ever, as burning old biomass.
You contradicted yourself. Lumber for houses is the main driver of deforesation in the United States, close to half of the total. Other countries build their houses with masonry, concrete, and steel. Their houses last for centuries. Ours last for decades. Google Earth the West Coast. It's a disaster zone of clearcuts and failed monoculture tree plantations.
Lumber is not driving deforestation in the US. Virtually all land from which timber is harvested is replanted with trees. Deforestation occurs when a forest is replaced by another land use (agriculture, houses, solar panels, etc).