On ThoughtCast: The History of the New England Forest - and its Future
Channel: ThoughtCast
Date: 2012-09-03

The forests of New England are, remarkably, a success story. They've recovered from attack after attack. The early settlers hacked them down, by hand, for houses, fences and firewood. Later on, the insatiable sawmills of a more industrial age ate up the lumber needed for our expansion. Today, the forests contend with acid rain, invasive plants and imported beetle infestations -- evidence of our ever more global economy.
In this Faculty Insight interview, produced in partnership with Harvard Extension School, Donald Pfister, the Dean of Harvard Summer School, tells the tale of the New England forest from as far back as the Pleistocene era.