Map that shows forested cover in the US

[DSettahr]

I figured a lot of people here would find this interesting.

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-map-shows-where-all-the-trees-are-in-the-us-2012-1

Definitely hones in on how important the northeastern forest (NY and New England) are to biodiversity in the US... Also makes it pretty obvious how much mountains can play a role in water availability- out west, many of the forest boundaries coincide pretty strongly with the watershed boundaries...

 

[vegematic]

That's pretty cool. Any idea what the grey-outlined areas represent? Some seem to obviously correspond to tree-cover, or lack of it, but not all are so clear.
-vegematic

 

[DSettahr]

I think the gray areas are just places with little or no woody vegetation- the extreme low end of the scale. They correspond pretty well with the plains areas in the mid-west, and desert areas in the west.