Abandoned farmland has been increasing, with a billion acres — an area half the size of Australia — lost globally. Ecologists are increasingly pointing to the potential of these lands and of degraded forests as neglected resources for rewilding and for capturing carbon.
It depends. When you disturb land, you turn back the clock. If you’ve clear cut, for instance, it’s going to take as long as it took the forest to develop.
Quiet the non answer right?
My point, in this case, is that you don’t get a 250 year old forest in anything less than 250 years. But that is sure a lot better than 600 years to get the same forest if you’ve mined the area for instance, instead of just clearing it.
How long would land have to be abandoned before it would have the same characteristics as current undisturbed land?
It depends. When you disturb land, you turn back the clock. If you’ve clear cut, for instance, it’s going to take as long as it took the forest to develop.
Quiet the non answer right?
My point, in this case, is that you don’t get a 250 year old forest in anything less than 250 years. But that is sure a lot better than 600 years to get the same forest if you’ve mined the area for instance, instead of just clearing it.