Deforestation is the complete removal of a forest ecosystem and conversion of the land to another type of landscape. It differs from clear-cutting, which entails complete removal of all standing trees but leaves the soil in a condition to regrow a new forest if seeds are available. Humans destroy forests for many reasons. American Indians burned forests to convert them to grasslands that supported big game animals. Early settlers cut and burned forest to convert them to croplands. Between 1600 to 1909, European settlement decreased forest cover in the United States by 30%. Since that time, total forest acreage in the United States has actually increased. In Germany about two-thirds of the forest was lost through settlement. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that from 1980 to 1990, 0.9% of remaining tropical forests were deforested annually (65,251 mi² [169,000 km²] per year), an area equivalent to the state of Washington. FAO defines forest as land with...