Department of Conservation

AUGUSTA, Maine - (September 7, 2001) Maine’s forests contain more wood today than five years ago, announced Department of Conservation’s Maine Forest Service Director Thomas Doak Thursday night. Doak released the Second Annual Forest Inventory Report at a meeting of the Industrial Forest Forum in Bangor. Doak said the report reaffirms the initial results released less than one year ago. The latest information also indicates that the sawlog timber volume is stable and that Maine, with forest covering nearly 90% of the landbase, is the most heavily forested state in the nation. The report is a cooperative publication between the USDA Forest Service and the Department of Conservation - Maine Forest Service.

In 1998, Maine’s legislature directed the Maine Forest Service to provide annual forest inventory data, and Maine was the first state to issue an independent statewide annual report using national standards on October 24, 2000.

The USDA Forest Service and the Maine Forest Service began a new annual inventory process in 1999, which measures a 20% systematic statewide sample of Maine’s forest every year. The full inventory will be completed in 2003, but the combined data of 1999 and 2000 provide a snapshot of conditions in Maine’s forests. Highlights from the latest inventory include:

In 2000, Maine’s forests had an estimated inventory of 281 million cords of wood (pulpwood quality or better). This is a significant increase from the 1995 inventory estimate.
The volume of growing stock and sawtimber is stable; there have been no significant volume changes in any tree species.
This report documents a significant shift in land ownership with less forestland owned by forest industry and a corresponding increase in ownership by Institutional Investors.
On average, Maine’s timberlands are stocked with 16.3 cords of wood per acre. This is an increase since 1995.
Maine remains 90% forested and 97% of the forestland is productive timberland.

“The information points to a better wood supply condition than we anticipated just a few years ago," stated MFS Director Doak. “While we still have work to do to make sure that the positive developments in forestry of the past years continue and are enhanced, I am encouraged by the results of the first two years of data." Doak added that while the volume of wood in the forest has increased, MFS is now documenting the emergence of a new young forest as the forest renews itself. Proper management of this emerging forest resource will be critical to long term wood supply and vitality of the forest.

As previously mentioned, Maine is the first state in the Northeast to convert to the new annual inventory system, by the request of the Maine legislature. The USDA Forest Service - Forest Inventory and Analysis Unit conducted inventories in 1959, 1972, 1982, and 1995, and the Maine Forest Service conducted an interim inventory in 1990.

“This second annual report reaffirms the benefit of an annual inventory system, in that it offers timely, up-to-date information on Maine’s forests every year,” remarked Doak. “This will allow us to identify and address potential issues based on the collected data.”

Copies of the second inventory report may be obtained by writing or calling -

Department of Conservation
Maine Forest Service
22 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0022
Telephone: 1-800-367-0223

The entire report and tables can also be downloaded from the DOC’s Maine Forest Service Web site at www.state.me.us/doc/mfs/pubs.htm

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