wri_restoration_diagnostic_case_example_united_states-62497fba23386314.pdf

This case study by the World Resources Institute examines the restoration of forests in the southern United States from 1920 to the mid-1960s, detailing the drivers, enabling conditions, and eventual decline of net forest gain.

• Between 1920 and 1960, the southern United States experienced a net increase in forest cover of 6 million hectares, rising from 85 million hectares to 91 million hectares. This restoration involved a mix of active and passive methods, utilizing hardwoods in the interior and softwoods, such as pines, in coastal plain areas.
• The restoration was driven by economic and environmental motivations, including the need to reduce soil erosion caused by unsustainable mining, lumbering, and agricultural practices, and a regional timber shortage following heavy logging between 1880 and 1920. Additionally, high unemployment during the Great Depression created government pressure to generate jobs.
• Several market shifts enabled forest recovery, including the abandonment of marginal farmland due to falling crop prices, boll weevil infestations in the cotton industry, and the rise of urban industrial jobs. A significant transition in energy use also occurred, with rural electricity access increasing from less than 15 percent in the early 1930s to 94 percent by 1955, reducing the demand for wood fuel.
• Government policy and institutional support were critical to restoration. The federal government established 'national forests' on degraded land and funded the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s for tree planting. Later, the 1956 Soil Bank Program paid farmers to restore marginal land with native vegetation, enrolling nearly 0.8 million hectares in the South during its first four years.
• The era of net forest gain ended in the 1970s as suburban expansion became a primary driver of forest conversion, surpassing agriculture by 1984. This highlights that long-term forest gain requires low pressure for alternative land uses and strategies to address new drivers of deforestation.
• While net forest cover increased, the composition of the forests changed. Natural pine, hardwood, and mixed forests were often replaced by productive planted forests, specifically loblolly and slash pine plantations managed for the forest products industry. By 2006, these planted forests accounted for approximately 20 percent of the total forest area in the southern U.S.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). wri_restoration_diagnostic_case_example_united_states-62497fba23386314.pdf. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_United_States.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. wri_restoration_diagnostic_case_example_united_states-62497fba23386314.pdf. n.d. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_United_States.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=wri_restoration_diagnostic_case_example_united_states-62497fba23386314.pdf |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_United_States.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendwrirestorationdiagnosticcaseexampleunitedstates62497fba23386314pdf, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{wri\_restoration\_diagnostic\_case\_example\_united\_states-62497fba23386314.pdf}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_United_States.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }