Other Facts and Information

What Is Sustainable Forestry?

Sustainable forestry means that trees are not harvested faster than they can grow back. Forest management is aimed at producing high-quality pulpwood and timber, protecting and enhancing habitat for wildlife, and ensuring water quality is protected for future generations.

What Does The Forest Do For You?

Many people are unaware of the products they may use on a daily basis that are a direct product of the forests that surround them. Lumber and paper are just the beginning, though these are the two that most often come to mind. Thousands of products come from trees, varying from food to building supplies, toys, instruments, packaging and countless others.

Each product is of great economic value. Not only do they create jobs, they also create consumer goods that fuel the economy in many different industries. Wood products are another reason to manage our valuable, renewable forests with sustainable forestry practices. These lists will give you an idea of just how much our forests provide for us in the modern world, though they are just a fraction of what is available to us. The next time you’re in the forest, think back to this list and just how much the trees provide for us!

acorns, almonds, apples, bananas, bay leaves, chestnuts, coconuts, dates, eucalyptus oil, figs, frankincense, grapefruit, lemons, lemonade, maple syrup, olives, oranges, peaches, pears, pine needle extract, rubber, seed source, shade, tangerines, walnuts, windbreak

airplane fuselages, airplane propellers, armoires, bagpipes, bar stools, bird houses, boardwalks, boat propellers, bridges, broom handles, brushes, cabinets, cable reels, canes, cedar chests, cedar closet liners, chairs, charcoal, chop sticks, church altars, church pews, coasters, coffee tables, coffins, crutches, cutting boards, decks, dog houses, doors, drum sticks, fence posts, firewood, futons, gazebos, grandfather clocks, home insulation, handrails, jewelry, matches, modular homes, musical instruments, oars, paint brush handles, paneling, pencils, petrified wood, picture frames, popsicle sticks, porch swings, rafts, railroad ties, roller coasters, rowboats, sailboats, shingles, siding, skewers, tables, tongue depressors, totem poles, toothpicks, wine barrels, wooden floors, yacht decking

absorbent waddings, adhesive systems, animal feed additives, artificial kidney membranes, art paper, bakery bags, bed sheets, binders, blankets, blouses, books, boxboard, calendars, cardboard boxes, catalogs, cigarette filter tips, cellulose filters, cellophane, ceramics, cereal boxes, clock facings, coffee filters, copy paper, cosmetic puffs, detergent boxes, dresses, disposable diapers, egg cartons, electrical insulation, emulsifiers, envelopes, facial tissue, fast food wrapping, fax paper, film, filter paper, folders, furnace insulation, game boards, greeting cards, grocery bags, insecticide sprays, jigsaw puzzles, juice cartons, labels, linerboard, magazines, manuals, milk cartons, napkins, newspapers, oil filters, panel boards, paper cups, paper plates, partitions, pine tar, playing cards, price tags, rayon, sandpaper, sanitary pads, sausage casings, seawalls, seed starters, speaker cones, spiral notebooks, stationery, surgical gowns, tea bags, tissue paper, toilet paper, toys, turpentine, twines , vanillin, wallpaper, wrapping paper, writing paper

arena footing for horses, ashtrays, baseballs, bath mats, beauty bark for gardens, beehives, candle holders, carpet underlayment, ceiling tiles, cigarette boxes, coasters for glasses, cold storage insulation, corkboards, cork buoys, cricket balls, dart boards, desk pads, fishing net floats, floor underlayment, floor tiles, fuel floats, glass polishing, golf balls, golf clubs, hogged fuel, hot pads, jar lids, life jackets, life buoys, linoleum, memo boards, musical instruments, pipe insulation, safety helmets, shoes, shuttlecocks, table tennis bats, wall tiles, water tight seals, whistles, wine corks

Maine Forestry Facts

Maine Forest Cover
Roughly 90 percent of Maine is forested, the highest percentage of any state. This includes ~12 million acres in the northern part of Maine where few people live.
Tree Species
Maine has 39 commercial tree species including aspen, birch, red and sugar maples, several types of oaks, white and red pines, spruce, balsam fir and others.
Tree Variation
Hardwoods like oaks and maples dominate in southern Maine while softwoods like spruces and firs do in northern Maine. The area between the two is mixed hard and softwoods. 39 percent of the forest is softwoods and 61 percent hardwoods.
Our Changing Forests
Maine has been harvested for timber for well over two hundred years, yet the state has more forest today than 100 years ago. During the 1700’s and 1800’s much of southern and central Maine was cleared for farms. With the decline of agriculture in the 1800’s much of this land has grown back. Remanants of rock walls can be found throughout the forests.
Forestland Ownership
About 95 percent of the forest is privately owned. Family forestland owners own 33%, private companies 61% and the federal government 1%.
Economical Impact
Maine has 200 forest products businesses employing in the vicinity of 24,000 people. The forest products industry contributes around $1.8 billion to the state’s economy each year. Maine is the second largest paper producing state.
Harvest Numbers
As estimated by the Maine Forest Service, around a half million acres of forest is harvested each year, producing about six million cords of wood with the harvest remaining stable for several years.