Table 1. - Annual estimates, uncertainty, and change

Figure 1. - Area of forest land and timberland by year.

Figure 2. - Area of forest land of the top four forest types

by stand-size class.

Maine’s Forest Resources, 2007 Research Note NRS-52

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Maine based on an annual inventory 

conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. 

Forest Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more 

information please refer to page 4 of this report.

1

Estimate 

(2007)

Sampling 

error (%)

Change(%) 

since 2003

Area (1,000 acres) 17,620.5 0.4 -0.5

Number of live trees > 1-inch 

diameter (million trees) 22,853.2 1.5 5.7

Dry biomass of live trees > 

1-inch diameter (1,000 tons) 659,996.1 1.0 0.9

Net volume of live trees > 

5-inch diameter (1,000,000 ft3

) 25,464.1 1.2 -0.5

Annual net growth of live trees > 

5-inch diameter (1,000 ft3

/year) 578,372.7 2.8 1.5

Annual mortality of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 359,802.2 3.1 28.0

Annual removals of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 619,788.7 6.1 15.6

Timberland Estimates

Area (1,000 acres) 17,087.4 0.5 -0.7

Number of growing-stock trees 

(million trees) 2,655.2 1.6 -1.4

Dry Biomass of live trees > 

1-inch diameter (1,000 tons) 641,686 1.0 0.4

Net volume of live trees > 

5-inch diameter (1,000,000 ft3

) 24,731.1 1.2 -0.9

Net volume of growing-stock 

trees (1,000,000 ft3

) 23,110.6 1.3 -1.0

Annual net growth of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 555,368.0 2.7 8.4

Annual mortality of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 275,496.0 3.4 12.1

Annual removals of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 570,735.0 6.0 8.6

Forest Land Estimates

Note: When available, sampling errors/bars provided in 

Figures and Tables represent 68 percent confidence intervals
Table 2. - Top 10 species by statewide volume estimates 2007

2

Figure. 3. - Area of forest land by major owner group (2007) and size of family forest landholding (2006).

B

Private forest land - 92.4 percent of all forest land. 

Public forest land - 7.6 percent of all forest land. 

Other 

Red spruce 3,208.8 3.7 -1.3 8,085.3 4.6 -1.4

Red maple 3,142.1 2.8 1.2 4,748.7 4.7 2.1

Eastern white pine 2,679.9 5.2 2 9,955.0 5.8 2.9

Northern white-cedar 2,185.9 5 0.9 4,490.1 5.7 0.9

Balsam fir 2,172.4 3.0 -0.3 2,633.3 5.3 -3.7

Sugar maple 2,120.5 5.3 -3.5 5,744.8 6.7 -4.4

Eastern hemlock 1,861.4 5 2 5,208.3 5.9 3.2

Yellow birch 1,605.5 4 -2.5 3,789.3 5.7 -2.8

Paper birch 1,196.1 4.2 -1.2 1,272.5 7.6 -1.4

American beech 940.3 5.5 -2.5 1,260.7 9.0 -3.0

Other softwoods 1,449.5 4.6 0.8 3,208.0 3.0 1.0

Other hardwoods 2,901.7 3.9 -1.1 6,141.7 2.9 -0.3

All species 25,464.1 1.2 56,537.8 1.4

Change 

(%) 

since 

2003 

Volume of live 

trees on forest 

land 

(1,000,000 ft3

)

Change 

(%) 

since 

2003 

Volume of sawtimber 

trees on timberland 

(1,000,000 bdft)

Sampling 

error 

(%)

Sampling 

error 

(%)

Species
Maine Issue Updates – Size Class Distribution

Even though Maine’s total forest land area has remained relatively stable over the past few decades, there 

have been long-term concerns about the comparative stocking levels of large, medium, and small stand-size 

classes within Maine’s forests (Irland 1998). The effects of the latest spruce budworm infestation coupled impacts 

of various other insects and disease outbreaks have reduced stocking of both hardwoods and softwoods (Maine 

Forest Service 2010, Solomon and Brann 1992). 

The latest FIA data shows the acreage of timberland to be evenly distributed across small, medium, and large 

stand-size classes (Figure 4 and 5; Powell and Dickson 1984, Griffith and Alerich1996, McWilliams et al. 2005). 

This even distribution is the result of increases in small-diameter stands and decreases in medium-diameter 

stands. 

Managing the density of balsam fir dominated stands and conducting thinning-from-below treatments can 

accelerate the growth of the smaller-diameter classes into the larger classes (McCarthy and Weetman 2007, 

Homyack et al. 2004).

3

Figure 4. - Area of timberland by stand-size class and year.

Figure. 5. - Area of timberland in percent by stand-size class, 2007.
Bechtold, W.A.; Patterson, P.L. 2005. The enhanced forest inventory and analysis program: national sampling design 

and estimation procedures. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-80. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Southern Research Station. 85 p.

Smith, W.B. 2002. Forest inventory and analysis: a national inventory and monitoring program. Environmental Pollution. 

116: 233-242.

USDA Forest Service. 2009. Forest inventory and analysis national core field guide, Vol. 1, field data collection 

procedures for Phase 2 plots, Ver. 5.0. Available at www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/field-guides-methods-proc . 

Butler, B.J. 2008. Family forest owners of the United States, 2006. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-27. Newtown Square, PA: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station.

Griffith, D. M.; Alerich, C.L. 1996. Forest statistics for Maine, 1995. Resour. Bull. NE-135. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service. 134 p.

Homyack, J.A.; Harrison, D.J.; Krohn, W.B. 2004. Structural differences between precommercially thinned and 

unthinned conifer stands. Forest Ecology and Management 194 (1) : 131-143.

Irland, L.C. 1998. Condition and outlook for Maine’s spruce-fir forest. MPPA Working Paper. Winthrop, ME: 

The Irland Group. 31 p.

Maine Forest Service 2010. Forest and shade tree insect & disease conditions for Maine: A summary of the 2009 

situation. 54 p. Available at http://www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/documents/FHMSummaryReport 2009March2010.pdf

McCarthy, J .W.; Weetman, G. 2007. Self-thinning dynamics in a balsam fir (Abies balsamea (l.) Mill.) insect-mediated 

boreal forest chronosequence. Forest Ecology and Management . 241 (3) :295-309.

McWilliams, W.H. 2005. The forests of Maine: 2003. Res. Bull. NE-164. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 188 p.

Powell, D.S.; Dickson, D.R. 1984. Forest statistics for Maine 1971 and 1982. Resour. Bull. NE-81. Broomall, PA: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 194 p.

Solomon, D.S.; Braun, T.B. 1992. Ten-year impact of spruce budworm on spruce-fir forests of Maine. Gen. Tech. Rep. 

NE-165, Radnor, PA. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station . 44 p.

FIA Program Information

Additional Maine Inventory Information

McCaskill, G.L.; McWilliams, W.H.; Butler, B.J.; Meneguzzo, D.M.; Barnett, C. J.; Hansen, M.H. 2010. Maine’s forest 

resources, 2007. Res. Note NRS-52. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern 

Research Station. 4 p.

Citation for this Publication

4

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Contact Information Analyst: George L. McCaskill (610) 557-4045, georgemccaskill@fs.fed.us

Data Acquisition / web sites: Carol L. Alerich, 610-557-4068, calerich@fs.fed.us

Website: fiatools.fs.fed.us