Forests recover slowly, often without obvious signs at first. Signs appear in the seedlings sprouting where the soil was once tilled and in the ferns spreading where no plants grew before. Long-term data are essential for showing whether a forest is recovering. A one-time assessment may point to destruction, but only repeat assessments can tell if the destruction recovers. In Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on Hawaiʻi Island, researchers assessed the impact of feral pigs by comparing forest sites where fencing kept pigs out with sites where pigs remained. They went back to the exact plots, using the same method of measurement.
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