The Institute Woods near Princeton University’s campus comprises 589 acres of serene walking trails and a wooden footbridge enjoyed by hikers, runners, and birdwatchers.
The Institute Woods near Princeton University’s campus comprises 589 acres of serene walking trails and a wooden footbridge enjoyed by hikers, runners, and birdwatchers. Like many forests in New Jersey, this local landmark was a patchwork of farm fields and orchards as recently as 1940 — before regrowing into the verdant escape seen today.
New Jersey is not the only place to experience farmland abandonment, however; it has become a global trend. Around the world, hundreds of millions of acres of land are being abandoned due to what’s known as “rural outmigration,” or people leaving for urban centers.
Some people leave in search of economic prosperity. Others are forced out due to conflict or the effects of climate change. Together with globalization and mechanization, these population shifts are changing the economics of farming in these areas, causing less productive lands to be abandoned. Some of these croplands eventually regenerate into natural habitats, helping both to increase biodiversity and absorb atmospheric carbon.
While environmentalists have been optimistic for this process to provide opportunities to restore habitats and sequester carbon, this is unlikely to happen without policy interventions, according to a new study in Science Advances, which shows that much of the land is eventually recultivated.
Read more at Princeton University
Photo Credit: TIKOHO via Pixabay
