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FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
In the 1930s, the Dust Bowl devastated America but Franklin D. Roosevelt's massive tree-planting project is still protecting US farmland nearly 90 years laterThe Dust Bowl is one of the worst environmental disasters in American history, but it also sparked one of the country's largest conservatio...
In 1904, Newfoundland released just four moose to boost hunting opportunities. Years later, their population had soared to nearly 200,000, transforming island's forests & becoming one of North America's largest moose populationsMore than a century after just four moose were introduced to Newfoundland, the animals multiplied into one of North America's largest moose...
An American gambler spent $90 million buying 54,000 acres of logged Florida land; 8 million longleaf pines later, a lost forest is returningM.C. Davis transformed 54,000 acres of Florida Panhandle land into a longleaf pine forest. This ecosystem, once widespread, had nearly vani...
In 1869, a French entomologist breeding European moths for an American silk industry let some escape; their descendants defoliated entire forestsAn amateur entomologist's escaped moths in 1869 led to widespread forest defoliation across America. This invasive insect has since damaged...
Between the 1930s and 1980s, Finland drained 4.7 million hectares of peatland to accelerate forest growth; the exposed peat soils are now a growing source of carbon dioxideFinland drained vast peatlands for forestry after World War II. These drained soils now release significant amounts of carbon dioxide annua...
In 1962, China sent young 369 foresters, to a former Qing hunting reserve that had become desert and was throwing sandstorms at Beijing; three generations later, it is the largest man-made forest on EarthIn 1962, a determined group of young foresters set out to change the landscape of Saihanba, transforming a barren desert into a thriving ec...
From a 1937 garden planting to an ecological crisis: One Miconia tree now spreads 8.9 million seeds, endangering Queensland's iconic rainforestsToday, a single mature Miconia tree can produce over 8.9 million seeds in one season. What began as a 1937 garden introduction in tahiti ha...
In 1942, America completed Friant Dam and diverted most of the San Joaquin River into farms; a salmon run once numbering nearly 50,000 adults collapsedFriant Dam construction in California significantly altered the San Joaquin River's flow. This action disconnected salmon from their spawni...
A juice company dumped 1,000 truckloads of orange peel on dead Costa Rican pastures in 1997; 16 years later, the plot had 176% more biomass than the land beside itA Costa Rican juice company's waste helped restore a degraded pasture. Discarded orange peels and pulp enriched the soil, fostering new gro...
In 1998, a war photographer inherited a cattle ranch stripped of its rainforest; over the next 20 years, he and his wife planted 2 million trees by hand, brought back the dried-up springs, and turned it into a protected nature reservePhotographer Sebastião Salgado and his wife restored a barren family farm in Brazil. They planted over two million trees, transforming the ...
No bricks, glass or steel: Bengaluru man transforms 10 acres of dry land into an eco-friendly forest retreat. About 20 km from Kanha National Park, this award-winning stay is built from mud walls, terracotta tiles and bambooBengaluru travel enthusiast Ankit Rastogi transformed 10 acres of barren land into a thriving forest. This eco-estate, Surwahi Social Ecoes...
On a savanna so acidic that experts called it dead, a Colombian community planted a forest of Caribbean pines for resin; under their shade, a rainforest nobody planted came back on its ownA Colombian community transformed acidic land into a thriving rainforest. Caribbean pine plantations, aided by a fungus, initiated this eco...
A Brazilian farmer used government credit meant to expand cattle grazing to do the opposite; neighbors called him mad, but 50,000 trees later, more than 20 springs have returned to his 31 hectaresA Brazilian farmer defied government policy by planting trees instead of cattle pastures. His actions, initially deemed foolish, led to the...
Not a crocodile or alligator: Massive 10-feet-long lizards, world's second largest, roam in India's SundarbansIAS officer Sanjay Kumar highlighted the Asian water monitor and Bengal monitor thriving in the Sundarbans. The Asian water monitor, the wo...
In 2002, a blind man and an armless man teamed up in a Chinese village, one serving as the other's eyes and hands; over the next 15 years, they planted more than 10,000 trees by hand along a barren riverbankTwo lifelong friends, Jia Wenqi and Jia Haixia, rebuilt a dead riverbank into a forest. They planted over ten thousand trees by hand, overc...
Burkina Faso’s desert was swallowing his land, so one farmer dug thousands of pits and grew a 40-hectare forestA farmer named Yacouba Sawadogo revived an ancient farming method called zaï. He transformed barren land into a thriving forest ecosystem o...
How climate change is making wildfires more frequentClimate change and wildfires explained: Global temperatures are projected to remain at record highs, increasing extreme weather events. Ris...
India set to get night safari soon. Check where, how to reach and what to expectIndia's first urban night safari project at Lucknow's Kukrail Reserve Forest has received Supreme Court approval. This ambitious project, i...
Bug bounty: MP forest department pays villagers Rs 2 per pest to save sal treesMadhya Pradesh forest department offers villagers a bounty for collecting sal borer beetles. This unique conservation drive involves childr...
Scientists discover rising heat leaves trees struggling to turn sunlight into energy: 57 million hectares of tropical forests already affected; Heat waves goes beyond photosynthesis limitsRising global temperatures are pushing millions of hectares of tropical forests beyond the heat levels where trees can efficiently carry ou...