CLEVELAND — Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have had a significant loss of forest and trees, a recent study reveals.
Despite the presence of the Metroparks and a National Park, efforts to preserve the area's forests have not been sufficient to stop the decline.
The study, conducted by Baldwin Wallace University, delved into 220 years of data to comprehend the evolving landscape.
It highlighted that historical decisions have played a pivotal role in the current environmental challenges.
During the 1800s, vast swathes of forest were cleared for agriculture, constituting a considerable loss.
Although approximately 25% of the cleared land experienced regrowth after abandonment, the specter of development loomed large, especially following World War II.
Dr. Kathryn Flinn, an ecology professor at BW, emphasized that development remains the primary threat to the region's remaining forests.
"What we can do is plan development so that it is destroying as little forest as possible, especially those primary forests that are only 6.7% of the landscape and that are especially valuable," she says.
The study revealed a stark reality: only 6.7% of today's forests qualify as primary forests, spaces untouched by human intervention.
This minuscule fraction underscores the extensive alterations the landscape has undergone.
"We lost forest to the point that it only covered 12% of the landscape around 1900," Flinn said. "And then as farmland was abandoned, a lot of forests regrew and the forest cover actually doubled to about 25%. But then, with the explosion of development after World War II, the amount of forest cover has been decreasing again with development."
