According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), the United States lost a greater percentage of its forest cover during the 2000-2005 period than did Brazil, Indonesia or Canada. The PNAS study of seven nations that each contain more than a million square kilometers of forest—Russia, Brazil, the United States, Canada, Indonesia, China, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—Brazil lost the most total forest during the five year time period.  But, the researchers pointed out, the US lost the greatest percentage of forest cover among the countries studied.  In losing 6% of its year 2000 forest cover to fire, beetle infestations, and logging, the rate of loss in the US outpaced Brazil and Indonesia (each 3.6%) and Canada (5.6%). The researchers noted that, "the often publicized phenomenon of forest conversion within the humid tropics is observed in our results, but significant GFCL [global forest cover loss] is evident in all biomes. For example, rates of GFCL in regions such as the southeast United States are among the highest globally."
Source: Jeremy Hance, Mongabay.com