Restoring Forests

Restoring forests could increase the amount of carbon stored in Illinois ecosystems.
Restoring forests can help reach the goal of conserving 30% of nature in the state. If all of the historic forest were restored and protected, Illinois would reach 67% of the goal of conserving 30 x 30.

Restoring and conserving forests will help meet the goal of conserving 30% of nature by 2030. Forest restoration also sequesters carbon, while providing wildlife habitat, filtering air and water, and offering opportunities for people to get outside.

We have developed several “What if….” scenarios to help imagine and compare different scenarios for the future. These scenarios include restoring natural areas (forests, grasslands and wetlands) and creating buffers along rivers and roads. These are not intended as recommendations for policies or management; similarly, the analysis does not recommend or prioritize any specific sites for restoration.

To estimate the potential benefit of forest restoration, we created 3 scenarios: restoring 30% of the historic forest, restoring half of the historic forest, and restoring all of the historic forest. We estimated the acreage of forest that would be conserved in each of these scenarios. Then we estimated the amount of carbon sequestration that would be stored for each scenario, by multiplying the acreage by a forest sequestration value from the scientific literature.

We analyzed the current extent of forest in Illinois using landcover data from the US Geological Survey. We estimated the amount of carbon stored in forests by multiplying a carbon sequestration factor to the forest acreage.

Impact of Restoring Forests

Restoring and conserving all of the historic forests can add 5.8 million acres of conservation land, bring the amount of conserved land in Illinois up to 26% of the state. Even restoring 30% of the historic forests would make a big contribution: more than 1.7 million acres and a statewide total of 15% of land conserved.

Visualizing Forest Restoration

Explore the map below to compare historic forest areas with current landscapes.

Map: Restoring Forests This map shows the location of historic and current forests. Explore the impact of restoring forests by clicking on a county to see more detailed data. Using the map tools, you may pan, zoom, and turn layers on and off.

The landcover data shown in this map comes from 2016 National Land Cover Database, provided by the US Geological Survey (https://www.mrlc.gov/data/nlcd-2016-land-cover-conus). Carbon sequestration values of forest, wetland, grassland, and farmland were acquired from a USGS baseline survey of carbon storage (Zhu and Reed, 2014, https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1804).