2020 Forest Action Plan

2020 Forest Action Plan

• A plan to provide a roadmap for investing federal, state, local, and private resources. This will enable conservation goals to be achieved.
• States submit their Forest Action Plans to the United State Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
• Since 2008, federal Farm Bills have required that states develop Forest Action Plans to access federal funding.

Plan Contents

• An assessment of forest conditions in the state.
• A strategy that identifies major goals and actions to achieve those goals.
• References of planning documents for the Forest Legacy Program, a national land conservation program for working forests.
• A state-specific plan called Assessment of Need, which guides applications for the federal Forest Legacy Program.

Maryland's Forest Action Plan elements

• An outline of broad strategies for addressing national priorities.
• A description of forest conditions on all ownerships.
• Highlights of issues and trends of concern.
• An identification of forest-related benefits and services.
• Delineation of high priority forest landscapes.

Forest Assessment

• Maryland's Forest Assessment identifies gaps in information and better coordinates with other natural resource plans.
• It addresses all public and private ownerships in Maryland.
• The sustainable forestry criteria and indicators are built around spanning the urban to rural continuum.

Seven criteria for sustainable forestry

• Conservation of Biological Diversity.
• Maintenance of Productive Capacity of Forest Ecosystems.
• Maintenance of Forest Ecosystem Health and Vitality.
• Conservation and Maintenance of Soil and Water Resources.
• Maintenance of Forest Contributions to Global Carbon Cycles.
• Maintenance and Enhancement of Long-Term Multiple Socioeconomic Benefits to Meet the Needs of Societies.
• Legal, Institutional, and Economic Framework for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Management.

Historic Conditions and Changes

• There is more forest today than when Fred Besley surveyed forest patches in 1916.
• Maryland was once covered by unbroken forest from the Atlantic coastal plain to the Appalachians.
• Native Americans were the first users and settlers of the forests.
• In 1634, settlers began to see the forest as a rich source of lumber and fuel.
• Early settlements cleared forests for farming, houses, fences, fuel, and crops.
• Mill dams changed the character of streams.
• Iron production in the 1700s and 1800s further transformed the forests as they became a fuel source.
• The Maryland General Assembly offered 100 acres of land to anyone who built an iron furnace in 1719.
• The Principio Furnace in Cecil County consumed 10,000 acres of woodland.
• Forest clearing peaked in the mid-1800s.
• Farmland was abandoned for better land in the Midwest and better occupations in the cities after the Civil War.
• Logging thinned forests, and fires completed the job of clearing land.
• The Great Depression produced even more abandoned land as cities and the West attracted desperate people.
• The Maryland State Board of Forestry was organized in 1906 and the first forest inventory was printed in 1916.
• Scientific management and a national conservation movement began in the late 1800s.
• The 1911 Weeks Act provided money for fire protection and land purchases for National Forests.
• Understanding of the forest's functioning has grown over the past 30 years, with studies of the Chesapeake Bay.
• The three major problems identified in the Chesapeake Bay were excess nutrients, sediment runoff, and toxic chemicals.
• Maryland is fortunate to have a large quantity of data available to assess its forest lands.
• Ninety-five percent of Maryland is within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Area of Total Land

• In 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated Maryland's population at 6.05 million, a 5% increase over 2010.
• Total land area is estimated at 9,707.24 square miles (6,212,634 acres) in 2019.
• Maryland has an estimated 595 persons per square mile, a 9% increase over 2010.
• At 39%, Forest land is decreasing.
• Area of trees with at least 10% tree cover, at least 120 feet wide, and 1 acre in size is a forest.
• Forest land in the state has been decreasing since the 1970s, mostly due to development but forests covered 41% of Maryland, or 2.6 million acres in 1999.
• Forest is defined for the Forest Conservation Act as areas that have at least 100 trees per acre with at least 50% of those trees having a 2 inch or greater diameter at 4.5 feet above the ground.
• Estimated forest cover is 2.44 million acres or about 39% of the total land area, providing approximately 0.40 acres of forest per person.
• Since reaching a low point 2009, there was nearly level growth in 2018.
• According to 2019 U.S. Forest Service estimates, 73% of the 2.44 million acres of Maryland forests are private, 18.5% are state, 2.7% are federal and 5.8% are local.
• For 2010, Maryland Department of Planning (MDP) estimated Maryland's land cover to be 26.7% developed, 30.6% agricultural land, 3.7% wetland, and less than 1% barren
• U.S. Forest Service estimates that forests on reserved land amounted to 284,000 acres in 2018.
• This makes up 41.9% of all public land in the state.
• Wildlands make up nearly 3% of Maryland's total forest cover with most of Maryland's known old-growth forest being located in these areas.

Forest type metrics

• In Maryland, forest stands in which most of the stocking is in large trees have increased in acreage since the early 1970's.
• The U.S. Forest Service estimates that 78% of the state's forests are in the Mature/Large forest class and nearly 40% of forest is over 80 years of age.

Forest age classes by survey period

• Nearly all oak/hickory forest is 41-60 years of age.
• The forest products industry in Maryland exhibits a slowing pattern over the last 40 years.
• The U.S. Forest Service reports that 10% of Maryland's timberland is at least 100 years old, and only 8% of the state's timberland is younger than 20 years.

Tree diversity

• Need for habitat diversity for wildlife.
• Forests can provide multiple layers of vegetation that provide food and cover, bole cavities and bark flaps nesting and feeding sites, and large dead trees.
• Stands that regrow after fire, windthrow, or cutting grow denser ground and shrub cover with high production of insects and fruits, benefitting species like golden-winged warbler and cerulean warblers.
• Oak and hickory make up 59% of Maryland's forest area. Loblolly pine makes up 16%.

Extent of Forest Land Conversion

• Development impacts the state by being the greatest threat to biological diversity in Maryland.
• Between 1973 and 2010, the amount of developed land in Maryland more than doubled, which is when Maryland's forest resources were reported.

Fragmentation and Parcelization

• Fragmentation of forests is an increasing problem for wildlife, with breaks made in the forest for roads, buildings negatively impacting wildlife.
• According to the National Woodland Owner Survey, the amount of forest landowners with less than 10 acres has increased from 72,400 in 1989 to 134,000 in 2006.

Forest communities

• Old growth ecosystems are distinguished by old trees and related structural attributes and must be a minimum of 2 ha (5 acres) and has a preponderance of old trees.
• The remainder of old growth forest is either on federal (0.4%) or private lands (4.7%).
• Early successional Forest, also referred to as "young forest habitat", from a forestry standpoint, is defined as trees younger than 20 years in age, has not reached canopy closure and occupies 3% of forestland.

Maryland Region

• Tidal forests border the upper reaches of Maryland's Coastal Plain Rivers and tributaries.
• Tree structure is a combination of proximity to marine environments.
• Distribution and vegetation of habitats is largely controlled by marine influences such as salt spray and deep sands.
• Examples of species with the greatest conservation need are Delmarva fox squirrel, scarlet tanager, Chermock's mulberry wing, eastern red bat, Acadian flycatcher, and common ribbonsnake.

Managed Montane Conifer Forest

• Forests consist of pure or nearly pure conifer stands that have been planted, usually as monocultures.
• Civilian Conservation Corps work crews were the primary planters.
• Examples of species with greatest conservation need are Blackburnian warbler, black-throated green warbler, golden-crowned kinglet,and long-eared owl.

Montane-Piedmont Oak-Pine Forests

• Forests are dry oak and oak-pine dominated in <2500 feet.
• The presence of Virginia pine and successional hardwoods indicates disturbance.
• Examples of species with greatest conservation need are Allegheny woodrat, golden eagle, American mink, golden-winged warbler, and Northern Barrens tiger beetle.

Oak Hickory Forest

• Most common forest type. Well developed, closed canopy.
• Often abundance of understory trees.

Maintenance of Productive Capacity of Forest Ecosystems

• Timberland, which is producing or is capable of producing crops of industrial wood of >20 cubic feet per year.
• Decreased 6% from its 1976 estimated size of 2.52 million acres to 2.37 million acres in 2008, and again to 2.153 million acres in 2018.
• Annual net growth of wood on timberland in Maryland has been declining.
• This could be because the average age of Maryland's forests has been increasing overtime, and older trees grow slower.

Removals for Harvest

• Maryland produces over 2 million seedlings per year at the John S. Ayton State Nursery, sold at cost for conservation plantings.
• Pine planting and replanting have declined substantially over the past two decades, so the Nursery produces fewer pine seedlings.

Soil Quality of Forest Land

• Average height of dominant trees defined as site index.
• Average site index helps to determine the influence of soil related growth conditions on tree productivity for a particular site.
• The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) produces maps and tables of soil quality and type at the county level for all states in the US.

Area of Forest Land Adjacent to Surface Water, and Forest Land by Watershed

• Maryland has almost 17,000 miles of streams and 7,500 miles of shoreline. 57%, of the streams, are fully buffered (>80% tree canopy) and 27 % are partially buffered (10-80% tree canopy within a 100 foot buffer). From Chesapeake Progress, from 1996 to 2017, over 1,400 miles of riparian buffers had been planted.

Water Quality in Forested Areas

• Protecting water quality is important for forests.
• Forests take up nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus and capture them in stable organic forms that are not easily leached or eroded into water.

Forest Protection of Drinking Water

• Keeping forest cover, restoring forest buffers, and land use regulations are all important mechanisms to keep drinking water clean.
• Maryland Forest Service has written landscape scale plans for subwatersheds in Pennsylvania and Maryland that are important for maintaining quality drinking water.

Maintenance of Forest Contribution of Global Carbon Cycles

• Tree biomass has been steadily increasing over the past decade.
• Total carbon on forestland went up 4% from 2008 to 2018.

Opportunities in Forests

• The total amount of carbon release by forest conversion to other land uses has increased over the last three decades.
• Forests sequester 2.6 billion tons of carbon each year, equivalent to one third of annual carbon released from burning fossil fuels.

Wood and Wood Products Production, Consumption, and Trade

• Maryland's forest products industry is an important economic factor.
• The forestry industry was responsible for 15% of the total economic impact of all resource-based industries in Maryland.
• There are few Maryland non-timber forest products.
• Maryland provides over 2,000 parks, open spaces and recreational properties covering 500,000 acres (managed by Counties and City of Baltimore. Majority are from DNR).

Employment

• Forests provide opportunities for recreation, so new strategies will provide support.

Investments in Forestry

• Surveys/assessments of the areas of ongoing work for treatments are efficient.
• Forest is sustainable and should be well managed always.
• Research is important to learn about industry’s need.
• Funding for assessing management / research from federal and state sources.

Forest Certification

• Forest certification is voluntary system, which certifies managed forests.
• 211,000 acres which is 96% is “forest” which are well managed.
• This is a culmination of site verifications.
• Each forest is certified according to FSC and SFI. Sustainable Forest must also write its own Forest.
• High conservation, Old Growth, ecological area along rivers for support.

Strategy

• Action plan meant to address 5 statewide priorities.
• Follows 7 Criteria of Montreal Process.
• 30 of their laws protect water as environmental goals.
• Provides benefits for MD citizens.

Findings from the Maryland Assessment 2020

• 39% forest cover has been declining. Tree canopy counts for almost 50%. Correlates with development rate.
• Forest absorbs 4.3 metric tons carbon dioxide emissions each year. An addition of 2.2 in urban cities as well. Can lead to higher sequestration.
• 78% is made up for mature forests. 40% is 80 years old. slower net rates in growth and increase natural mortality
• ¼ ¼ MD forests are public. 41% or 10% of forests isn’t up for harvesting. Rural economy stems from these forests.
• 16.9 mil trees have been planted thru programs. Pine trees lowered, hardwood goes up.
• 57/27 riparian is good for water.
• More invasive. Emerald ash, pests, and lanternflies are combined.
• Wildfire acres have declined. Trend correlates with rainfall increase. Pre-fire is key to restore.
• Lumber decreasing because of trucks and mills.
• Lumber went down (4.7 - 3.5).
• 88% forest practices followed. Protect water.
• MD has high adaptive capacity, dominated “dwarf.”

Socioeconomic Context in Maryland

• Important points:
  • Forest Mgmt NAT. and Restored Article.
  • Tree nursery (ART). -Required Cty pay.
  • Reforestation program by ART -Urban/ Community =ART and Restored
    • Forestry Bd - Article Fire-hazard.
• Taxed (Article 8).
• Roadside to Tree.
• 5.4 Restored- Tree Law.
• Highway reforest. ART and rest.
  • Preservation Article
• C.Bay-water.

Maryland: Managing Forest Actions/Fire

• Forest areas. All areas are needed.
• Plan to restore clean water and water actions.

MD Goal: Grow Forests

• Restore all habitats/market/jobs. *Conserve and manage wildlife.
• Forest plans are necessary to work and give incentives.
• Forestry and working with private land.
• Uniquely sit to provide wide, befits models for logging.

Goal : MD to Keep Forests as Forests

• Goal is to diversify / improve demand as possible
  • Market-Biodegradable projects
  • 75% MD - landowners provide best
  • Timber logging for better improvement
• Loggers need high harvests and good wood-supply access
• MD assist eco-support like timber
• Prepare Risk An, local harvest/ forest = DOM Market
  • Code officials support / building.
• Resources: low need / cost with communities / leaders.
• Zoning/ permits for cutting with forest.

Conserve MD in relation to market value:

• Legacies MD in 2020 will protect forest for non farm uses.
  • Coordinate Forever MD for preservation foundation to support.
• 40% of local law reasonably limited due to development and transportation restrictions. Consider support.

Goal MD: Increase trees: Reforestation

• Forest all year and goals for 1300 miles.
• No net loss is always the core goal.

  • Better assistance will always improve to make management available.

  • 1050 of assistance.

Support green living

• Protect more trees and all forest goals.

Provide expertise

• Training the field.
• Improve to assist local.
• Local funding to work well, train with all states.
• Work help support.

Goal and Action: Plan for Future

• Work towards renewable and reduce all things carbon.
• Better info and action. Balance fire well and have a plan for both sides, such safety.