Ever look at landscape photos of Carbon County taken a century ago, around 1910? If you looked at the same locations today, what differences would you see?

When I looked at old photos taken from the summit of Mount Pisgah in Mauch Chunk/Jim Thorpe along the Switchback Gravity Railroad right-of-way, the slopes were barren, and the view extended forever. Today, except in the openings created by rock outcrops, trees that have grown back and block the view. As a forester it gives me pleasure to see the forests repopulating these once denuded hillsides.

Pennsylvania is now about two-thirds forested, with Carbon County accounting for nearly 200,000 acres of forests—about three fourths of its land area. When we figure that each acre of forest grows anywhere from one to four tons of wood each year, nature is adding a minimum of 200,000 tons of wood to the County yearly.

So, why does Carbon County have more forest now than in 1910? A century ago, most of the forest had been removed by logging and to clear fields for farming and animal pasture.

Beginning with the Industrial Revolution and intensifying during the Depression, many farmers abandoned their hard-scrabble family farms for jobs in the cities. While some fields and pastures remained fallow, others became State Parks, State Forests, and State Gamelands. Left alone, the land slowly regenerated into the abundant forests we see and enjoy today.

Since 1930, every ten years, and more recently, every five years, the State and Federal governments have inventoried our forests. At every inventory, both the state of Pennsylvania and Carbon County have increased their forested acreage.

Would readers from 1910 be surprised? Maybe not as surprised as readers from 2010.

Jeff Wartluft