A new study finds that coastal forest loss in North Carolina’s Albermarle-Pamlico Peninsula began accelerating after 2010 and may still be speeding up.
A new study finds that coastal forest loss in North Carolina’s Albermarle-Pamlico Peninsula began accelerating after 2010 and may still be speeding up. The study also found that N.C. lost more than 20% of its coastal forest between 1985 and 2021.
Researchers used satellite imagery to track coastal forest loss in N.C. from 1985 through 2021 and found the state experienced a 21% loss of coastal forests, or approximately 64,220 hectares. Just over 40,000 ha of that land was lost to marsh, ghost forest and shrub, specifically.
That loss did not happen linearly, said Titilayo Tajudeen, lead author of a paper on the study and graduate researcher at North Carolina State University.
“Between 2010 and 2021, we saw 23,876 ha of forest were converted to marsh, ghost forest, and shrub,” Tajudeen said. “That is 1.5 times higher than the 16,968 ha lost to marsh, ghost forest, and shrub between 1985 and 2010.”
Read More: North Carolina State University
Photo Credit: NC Wetlands from Raleigh, NC via Wikimedia Commons
