Dangers

It is no coincidence that a good deal of the human population is found in areas that once supported temperate forests. The soils are rich and easily converted to agriculture. The climate is warmer than the boreal forest, yet not so warm as the tropics. One of the problems with the tropics is the prevalence of parasitic diseases found there, many transmitted by mosquitoes or other insects - and this is less of a problem in temperate areas where the onset of winter causes mosquito populations to crash. So, the biggest threat to temperate forests is once again development and agriculture. The image to the right is a satellite view of northwestern Ohio, showing Lake Erie and the heavily agricultural landscape of Ohio (actually, much of the land in this image was swamp before being drained). The impact of the agriculture is also seen in the plume of sediments flowing into the lake through Sandusky Bay (center of the photo) and from the Maumee River (off to the left of this image).
Other threats to the forest come from logging; most of the trees here are hardwoods, which means they have a denser wood than most of the coniferous trees. It also means they may grow more slowly, which means more pressure to cut the trees to maintain volume at the sawmill.

Acid Rain from coal-burning is another threat, as is global warming, which in particular may change rainfall patterns.