Case Example: New England Restoration

This case study by the World Resources Institute examines the restoration of forest landscapes in New England from 1850 to the present. It details how a combination of market shifts, ecological suitability, and policy interventions led to the passive restoration of approximately 4 million hectares between 1880 and 2000, while also identifying current threats to these regenerated forests.

• Between 1880 and 2000, approximately 4 million hectares in New England underwent restoration, primarily through passive means as agricultural land was abandoned and allowed to regenerate naturally.
• The primary driver for forest restoration was the decline of competing land demands caused by market shifts. New England farmers could not compete with the industrial-scale agriculture of the U.S. Midwest, which benefited from lower transport costs via railroads and the use of oil for refrigeration and transport.
• Ecological conditions facilitated rapid natural regeneration. An abundance of seeds, tree species, and animal dispersers allowed forests to recover quickly on abandoned farms, with some species recolonizing within 10 years. Native white pine was especially effective at colonizing old pastures.
• The New England Forestry Foundation has quantified the economic and environmental benefits of these forests to motivate further restoration. These include $6 billion saved in water treatment expenditures, $5 billion in recreation benefits, $700 million in health-care and crop loss savings from air quality, and the annual displacement of $1.85 billion in oil use for heat.
• Policy measures, specifically the Weeks Act of 1911, supported restoration by authorizing the creation of national forests, such as the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont and the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Maine.
• Current trends indicate a reversal of forest regeneration. Forest cover is declining in every New England state due to population growth and the conversion of land for residential and industrial use. Additionally, over 95 percent of the forested landscape has been cut at least once, resulting in forests that are structurally simpler and younger than 100 years.
• Ecological pressures, such as heavy browsing by deer and the impact of the hemlock woolly adelgid, threaten the sustainability and composition of the restored forests.

APA

BUCKINGHAM, K. (n.d.). Case Example: New England Restoration. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_NewEngland_1.pdf

Chicago

BUCKINGHAM, KATHLEEN. Case Example: New England Restoration. World Resources Institute, n.d. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_NewEngland_1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=BUCKINGHAM |first1=KATHLEEN |title=Case Example: New England Restoration |publisher=World Resources Institute |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_NewEngland_1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{buckinghamndcase, author = {BUCKINGHAM, KATHLEEN}, title = {{Case Example: New England Restoration}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_NewEngland_1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }