I recall a factoid from growing up in southern New England: that Connecticut had more forestland in my youth than it had a hundred years earlier, because so much agricultural land had been abandoned to nature. Presumably farmers wanted soil without an annual stone harvest.
It was largely wool, as I understand it. Those rocky hills are terrible for row crops, but fine for pasture, so you stack up some rocks into fences and fill them with sheep.
Then people stop wearing wool, and here we are.
also why mutton went from being a very popular form of meat in the US (old sheep meant for wool who were no longer suited for it), to basically not existing as a major form of meat.
NE, winter. We still wearing wool, from Bean. My 2nd favorite fiber.
Reforestation is slowing to a crawl because land owners are realizing that you need expensive onerous permits to clear any serious (1 acre) amount of forested land so they maintain any cleared area whereas prior to the clean water act they let it grow and just cut it if they (or the next owner) had a reason to.