themeaningoflifeisnot: Only 5 million trees in the U.S.? I would guess that there are at least that many in New York State alone.

From the original article:

Kellndorfer estimates that their mapping database includes measurements of about five million trees.

They based their estimates in part on a DB that indexes 5 million trees. Somewhere during the translation to Gizmodo they farked it up.

The "Great Plains" are... great!

pretty sure I farted last week and caused a firestorm that killed more then five million trees

Dead for Tax Reasons: Even trees don't like republicans

Don't worry, the feeling is reciprocated.

So many trees... but where's the forest.

Hehe, "woody biomass".

Karmacidal: The lack of geography & basic earth science knowledge in this thread saddens me.


wut-uh-ya mean, mace?

There's a lot less in Florida than I imagined. Discounting pine weeds that some like to call trees, I think there's a secret rule that you have to have at least 3 royal palm trees per quarter acre lot here, which means the data provider is either stupid or a troll. Given that the article is from Gawker/Gizmodo and (gag) io9, I'm going to go with stupid.

Arkanaut: So many trees... but where's the forest.

Came for this.

Gratitude.

I own 12 pixels. Wow.

Yeah that green part is the Willamette valley I think. We have street sweepers picking up leaves all night, every night. Good think I don't have a lawn

Arkanaut: Hehe, "woody biomass".

I got yer "aboveground woody biomass" right here, buddy.

\Just in case anyone needs a single toothpick

emonk: I own 12 pixels. Wow.

NorCal represent...21 here.

FloydA: I grew two avocado four marijuana trees from seed cuttings that I keep as houseplants, inside, where the satellites can't see them. Take that, NASA! :-P

Fixed.

JamisonJamieJames: Yeah that green part is the Willamette valley I think. We have street sweepers picking up leaves all night, every night. Good think I don't have a lawn

Nah, look again, that's the white area surrounded by the green and black of everywhere that isn't Stumptown and the valley.

/Livin' in dark green and black.

theorellior: ZAZ: If you meant the narrower northwest/southeast strip, that one is weird. Probably aliens.

It looks like the channel of the Red River, but why is it pretty much devoid of trees?

Based off Google Maps, cleared farmland with a little bit of floodplain thrown in.

JamisonJamieJames: Yeah that green part is the Willamette valley I think. We have street sweepers picking up leaves all night, every night. Good think I don't have a lawn

Don't you mean that white bit surrounded by green bits up in NW Oregon?



I would also like to ask what's up with the lines? Because some green masses run right up to the edge of lines and then stop. (N Ohio, Indiana, Central Valley, Central Washington). Are the lines based on categories of some sort? Is there a data entry or policy difference causing that or what?

Tree number 1 - the larch.

FTFA:
It's displayed at a 30 meter resolution, where every four pixels constitutes an acre and every ten represents a hectare.

Damn, you guys got big trees in the USA.

But I can vouch for lack of trees in the middle. I drove from Brownsville, Texas to Duluth, and I didn't see a single tree the first 1400 miles.

"Have you seen my friends around here? WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!"

5 Billion seems low as well.

Since wildfires consume over a million ACRES of forest land nearly every summer, I'm in the "5 million trees is bullshiat" camp.

The big gap in the middle is Corn.....
we have trees too but just in town.

Amos Quito: The "Great Plains" are... great!

That was my first thought as well, there is a reason its called the great plains dumbmitter.

MontanaDave: I'm in the "5 million trees is bullshiat" camp.

Of course it is.

My relatively small yard has about 50 trees.

Using the five million figure means that 1 in every 100,000 trees in the U.S. is in my yard.

First google chart for Minnesota alone cites about 10 billion trees.