Forest Change and Human Populations in New England 1650-2006

As part of retrospective studies of land-use across New England, information was compiled on forest cover and human population for the New England states. Excluding Maine, where the northern forest region was never settled and remained forested, the states share a common history of deforestation for agriculture followed by farm abandonment and natural reforestation. The extent to which these secondary forests differ in structure and function from permanently wooded areas or the forests of the pre-settlement period forms a major research emphasis of Harvard Forest studies.作为新英格兰地区土地利用回溯研究的组成部分，研究团队收集了该地区各州的森林覆盖数据与人口统计资料。其中缅因州因北部林区从未被定居开发且始终维持森林覆盖状态而被排除样本之外，其余各州均经历了共同的发展历程：为发展农业砍伐森林，随后农田撂荒并经自然过程恢复形成次生林。这类次生林在结构与功能层面与永久林区，抑或是定居前的原始森林存在的差异程度，是哈佛森林（Harvard Forest）相关研究的核心重点之一。