When the European settlers came to Vermont they cleared the land. They cut down trees, dragged away stumps, and burned brush so they could plow and plant crops. They built fences to hold their sheep and cows. The deforestation that began in the 1700s changed the way Vermont looked for hundreds of years.

What is deforestation?          http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/environment4.html

Many of the forests in Vermont have grown back but they are not the same. Beech trees used to make up more than one third of all the trees in Vermont. That means that for every three trees you saw, one would be a Beech tree. Today, for every twenty trees you see one would be a Beech tree.

What would Vermont look like without its trees?          http://maps.google.com/maps