Temperate Forest Restoration

Eight thousand years ago, temperate and boreal forests covered 3200 million hectares, or a quarter of the earth’s land surface. They have been reduced to approximately half that amount over the last two millennia to make way for agriculture and human settlement. In recent decades, however, this trend has reversed, with net gains in temperate and boreal tree cover of over 3 million ha annually between 1990 and 2015. Because social and economic drivers determine whether forests shrink or expand in the modern era, this chapter profiles three contrasting examples of temperate forest restoration or rehabilitation that are driven by very different motivations. The first, Tiramoana Bush in Te Wai Pounamu South Island, Aotearoa New Zealand, is 407 ha of former pasture land, which is being restored to native temperate forest as an offset for a nearby landfill development. The second case study concerns Colorado’s Front Range, which is 1.7 million ha of predominantly wildlands with 2 million residents, who have suffered devastating wildfires over a 30 year period. The Front Range Roundtable, representing multiple agencies, organisations, and community, negotiated the restoration of 13,000 ha of lower montane dense coniferous forest, to emulate pre-settlement grassy old-growth woodlands and reduce the threat of catastrophic fire. The final case study describes the reforestation of ‘Taylors Run’, a 750 ha farm in northern New South Wales, by two generations of the Taylor family, after nearly all of the natural eucalypt cover was lost to ‘New England dieback’ between the 1950s and 1970s. The rehabilitation programme featuring exotic and native trees and shrubs to withstand the dieback caused by defoliating insects has restored shade and shelter for livestock as well as biodiversity and amenity, generated a net positive carbon balance, and created new business opportunities. The long timeframes, high costs, and complex social dynamics associated with temperate forest restoration and rehabilitation require innovative inter-generational policy, funding, and business solutions, together with careful consideration of monitoring and evaluation processes and social understanding to ensure the success of multi-decadal and multi-century projects.