Forests are resilient.
It is a tribute to this inherent quality of American forests and to the success of the policies that were put in place in response to public concerns that forest conditions over much of the US have improved dramatically since 1900. The following snapshot compares the forest situation as it was in 1900 with the way it is today. Following two centuries of decline, the area of forest land has stabilized. Today the United States has about the same forest area as in 1920. Populations of whitetail deer, wild turkey, elk, pronghorn antelope, and many other wildlife species have increased substantially.