[camaraderie]

Well...my guess is we have scientific ways to figure that out with some accuracy Chuck...just as we can cabon date the Shroud of Turin...my guess is we can look at layers of soil, etc. just as we do ice cores and tell a lot about the environment at a given small time period. i.e. Chestnut shells found beneath a foundation of a 1700 era house might indicate the forest was cleared to build the house. Absent contrary scientific opinion I tend to believe the data...and I have not found any contrary data in my own little search on this issue. Accurate? Probably not...but given the stated 30% differential...it seems safe to assume that a rather significant deforestation took place from settlement till the mid 1800's...whether it was 28% or 33% probably doesn't mean much anyway. The good news is that with satellites we can really be quite precise now...and things seem to be improving a bit in THIS country forest-wise. A little research into what the Chinese are doing elsewhere though does give one pause. And we are buying THAT wood instead of using our own.