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Chapter Five
Our Forests—
Past, Present,
and Future
I
t’s hard to look at a forest today and
picture how it has changed from its
original state. Often the trees seem to
be so big that we believe that they must
have been there forever. It’s also easy to
believe that they will be there for many
years to come. That is not always the case,
however. The forests of North America
have changed greatly since the time of the
first European settlers. And they are still
changing today.
ozone:
a form of oxygen
containing three atoms of
oxygen in a molecule.
paleobotanist:
a scientist
who studies the plant life
of the past by indirect
methods.
reclamation:
restoring land
to its former state.
Words to Understand