Nebraska was only about 3% forested at the time of European settlement in the 1800s. Most of the state was open prairie, with trees clustered along rivers, streams, and the rugged bluffs of the east and Panhandle. That history matters today. Native trees are adapted to Nebraska’s swings between brutal winters and scorching summers, plus…
Idaho surprised me the first time I drove north from Boise into the Panhandle. Within a few hours, I passed through dry sagebrush flats, dense conifer forests, and cedar groves that felt almost coastal. That kind of variety is rare, and it’s the reason Idaho supports so many native tree species. Idaho’s forests cover roughly…
Oklahoma surprises people. Most picture flat prairie and red dirt, not forest. Yet more than 12 million acres, close to 28 percent of the state, is covered in trees, according to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. I grew up thinking of Oklahoma as wide open plains. Then I hiked the Ouachita Mountains…
Iowa does not look like a forest state at first glance. Rolling farmland dominates the view from most highways. Yet tucked along the rivers, bluffs, and ravines, the state holds roughly 3 million acres of trees and forests, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. That is a lot of native wood for a…
West Virginia’s forests support far more than scenery. The state holds nearly 12 million acres of forest land, based on U.S. Forest Service inventory data, with an average of 507 trees per acre across that land. Native species dominate this landscape almost entirely. Oak and hickory forests alone account for 73 percent of West Virginia’s…
Louisiana’s forests cover about 15 million acres, nearly half the state’s total land area, according to the U.S. Forest Service. That makes forestry one of the state’s largest land uses, right alongside agriculture and wetlands. Native trees anchor Louisiana’s fragile landscape in a way imported species cannot. Bald cypress and tupelo root systems, for example,…
Maine earns its nickname (Pine Tree State) honestly. About 89% of the state is covered in forest — roughly 17.4 million acres — making it the most heavily wooded state in the entire country. That is more forest cover than any other U.S. state can claim, and it is why I always tell people that…
South Carolina wears its trees like a badge of honor. I have walked under live oaks dripping with Spanish moss and stood beside cypress knees rising out of black swamp water, and both moments left the same quiet impression: this state grows trees that feel almost prehistoric. That impression is not just poetic. Forests cover…
Wisconsin holds more trees than most people ever guess. The state carries 17 million acres of forest land, and inside that green expanse stand roughly 11.5 billion live trees, according to the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis program. That is more trees than there are people on Earth. I grew up walking under…
Alabama is a tree lover’s paradise. I have walked through pine flatwoods in the south and hardwood coves in the north, and every time, I am struck by how much variety this one state holds. Alabama has roughly 23 million acres of forest, covering about 70 percent of its total land area. That makes it…