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How did abandoned farmland contribute to the passive recovery of eastern deciduous forests in the United States?

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wetland restoration — ecological restoration Wetland restoration along the Târnava Mică (Tîrnava Mică) River in Romania. A former gravel mine (left) was transformed into a functional wetland (right).

The recovery of North America’s eastern deciduous forests serves as a prominent example of passive restoration. During the 17th to 19th centuries, vast tracts of these forests were cleared for agriculture. However, as the eastern United States underwent industrialization and agricultural practices shifted westward, much of this farmland was abandoned.1

Once agricultural tilling ceased, the land was left to recover naturally through ecological succession without the need for active human intervention. This process allowed forests to regenerate on their own, eventually covering millions of acres. While these regrown forests are relatively young and lack certain historical elements—such as the American chestnut tree—they have become remarkably similar to the forests that existed prior to 1650. This demonstrates how simply removing the source of a disturbance can, in some cases, be sufficient to facilitate the return of an ecosystem to a pre-disturbed state.12