Forestry

Where are we now?

Sadly, only about 2% of the old forests in the State remain untouched. All the rest have been logged at some time in the last 200 years, mostly in the late 19th century when a greater number of Europeans arrived.

Sprawling development eats away at our forests. Experts estimate that about 80,000 acres of our natural forest cover is lost every year, mostly to development. Private landowners hold more than 80% of all the State’s woodlands, while state and federal agencies manage the rest. So, the future of our forests depends on the roughly 600,000 citizens with woods on their land.

Although clear cutting (removal of all trees) is necessary in some instances, the trend will be towards more selective tree harvesting to maintain woodland diversity and allow younger trees to mature fully.

As loggers remove the natural mixed hardwoods, loggers often replace the hardwoods with softwood species, usually pines. Landowners prefer the softwood trees because they grow quickly and produce more timber per acre. Softwoods currently bring higher prices and are mainly used in construction, for wood chips, and in making pulp, which provides paper products.