Forests of the United States

Employment It has been estimated that before European settlement, forests in the United States mainland covered nearly 1 billion acres (4,000,000 km2).

Reversion of marginal farmland in the east, large scale planting in the South, and fire suppression have contributed to increases in forest area.

Urbanization, conversion to agriculture, reservoir construction, and natural disasters have been major factors contributing to loss of forests.

[a] Native Americans cleared millions of acres of forest for many reasons, including hunting, farming, berry production, and building materials.

[7] Prior to the arrival of European-Americans, about one half of the United States land area was forest, about 1,023,000,000 acres (4,140,000 km2) estimated in 1630.

The bill is a reaction to United States Forest Service and Department of Interior costs of Western Wildfire suppression appending that amounted to $3.5 billion in 2013.