WOOD CENTRAL • November 1, 2024
“Ghost Forests” appear from Maine to Miami and bend back around the Gulf of Mexico, leaving gaunt tree skeletons” stripped of leaves and bark. Gradually, forests and bogs give way to more salt-tolerant thickets. As the globe warms, sea levels rise, and more saltwater encroaches land, “invading seawater advances and overtakes the freshwater that trees rely upon for sustenance,” according to NOAA. “The salty water slowly poisons trees, leaving a haunted ghost forest of dead and dying timber.”