North America's Forests act as the planet's lungs. They filter and trap vast quantities of CO2 and transpire a great deal of moisture in the forest climes, which are actually temperate rainforest equivelent to those of South America. Wastefull clearcutting, and turning complex forests into monoculture treefarms has led to the destruction of the supporting soil flora with reduced overall vitallity. Reducing the acreage also introduces the blowdown phenomenon. Imagine 3 people standing in a strong wind vs 30 huddled together. Every year the edge phenomenon further destroys vigorous trees. The overall result is a forest system with decreased ability to maintain the moisture level with increasingly dry conditions. This weakening introduces still more stresses, most notably the Bark Beetle. Then we get simplistic fixes like removing the diseased trees by "the people who know best how to do it," the timber industry. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />