Less than 150 years ago, vast areas of forest in New England were cleared for agricultural use and to supply timber for local development. Deforestation peaked between 1830 and 1880, affecting around 80 percent of the region's forests.

As settlers moved west, in part because of the lack of arable land, the forests were given a shot at redemption. In 1944, the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) was formed with the goal of enforcing guidelines on logging and deforestation. In 1946 the NEFF was working with 20 properties that each averaged about 150 acres in size. By June of 2005, the foundation was managing over 20,000 acres of New England's forests.

The white pine, pictured above, was the first tree to fully repopulate, and by 1952, forest cover had increased by 70 percent--and still continues to grow.