“It’s almost impossible to determine the age of a tree by coring it,” he said. [1], List of largest United States National Forests, Tionesta Scenic and Research Natural Areas, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Eleven Point National Wild and Scenic River, Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area, Frank Church—River of No Return Wilderness, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, "Land Areas of the National Forest System", "The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management: History and Analysis of Merger Proposals", "The National Forests of the United States", "Angeles National Forest – History & Culture", "Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland", "Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands", "Green Ash-Overcup Oak-Sweetgum Research Natural Areas", "Deschutes & Ochoco National Forests & Crooked River National Grassland", "Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests", "George Washington and Jefferson National Forests", "Grand Mesa Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests", "Land and Resource Management Plan: Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit", "Overview - Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area", "Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest & Thunder Basin National Grassland", "Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands", "Pike and San Isabel National Forest Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands", "2002 Estimates of Old Growth Forests on the 18 National Forests of the Pacific Southwest Region", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_national_forests_of_the_United_States&oldid=992074684, Lists of protected areas of the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Pennsylvania's only National Forest includes, As the largest National Forest in Florida, Apalachicola includes over 2,700 acres (1,100 ha) of water and 67 mi (108 km) of the, The largest National Forest in Montana, it encompasses several mountain ranges of the, Located in central Mississippi, this forest includes several lakes and reservoirs and, Bitterroot National Forest is located in the, With 430 mi (690 km) of trails, this forest contains the southern terminius of the, There are 2,020 lakes, 440 spring ponds, and 347,000 acres (140,000 ha) of wetlands in this National Forest. We were in Big Reed Forest Reserve in northern Maine, a couple of hours by gravel road northwest of Baxter State Park. The other major disturbance was from spruce budworm. Lots of them. You can nominate a tree to be listed on Maine’s Register of Big Trees. That’s when it hired Charles Cogbill, an ecologist and expert on the pre-settlement forest in northern New England, to look at the records and “figure out how this could be true – that thousands of acres could have gone uncut and nobody knew about it.”, Nancy Sferra watches as Andy Cutko removes a tree core. Small fires in Portland, Bowdoin and Wells were reported to the Forest Service on October 7. What trees grow in Maine‘s woods? This website is your free forest information source with topics on Maine forest laws, taxes, pruning, thinning, timber harvesting, wildlife, forestry news , cost-share programs, consultant forestry, and much more! And one of the things she noticed was that the forest had changed. On the forest land in Maine, there are an estimated 24.0 billion live trees that are at least 1 inch in diameter (Table 1). There are also 493 mi (793 km) of non-motorized trails, 292 mi (470 km) of motorized trails, and 9,000 mi (14,000 km) of roads alongside five, With 1,300 lakes and ponds, 925 mi (1,489 km) of rivers, and 440,000 acres (180,000 ha) of wetlands, there are many opportunities for boating and fishing in this forest. Tweet. And every day the scientists got more intimate with the land. Mendocino is the only National Forest in California not crossed by a paved highway. It resembles a shiny T-shaped hand auger. The primary disturbance factor, he said, was wind. The National Park Service calls it “ the year that Maine burned, ” and, according to the Maine Forest Service, it remains the largest forest fire of the state’s modern history. The trail follows traditional travel routes used by Native American, settlers and guides. It is the largest contiguous piece of old growth east of the Mississippi River and contains two-thirds of New England’s remaining old growth, according to the Sierra Club Guide to the Ancient Forests of the Northeast. Volk’s wife donated the property to the University of Maine Foundation. The hike showcased for us one of the classic characteristics of a virgin forest: downed trees. Their address: 3232 Aroostook Road, Eagle Lake, ME 04739. (Fred Bever/Maine Public Radio) This article is more than 1 year old. © 2018 by the author; this article may not be copied or reproduced without the author's consent. The trek took us through several old beaver bogs, wet and, well, boggy. In 1994, Industry represented the largest single land- owner type, with about 59% of the 11.7 million acres of Maine classified as “major owners” (>5000 ac)(Table 4). We continued around the pond, again climbing over downed trees through woodland populated by their towering, still-living relatives. Spanning over the northern and eastern two-thirds of the state, Maine’s North Woods comprises around 11 million acres of largely unbroken forestland. “But it’s a large spruce.”, Big Reed Pond at sunrise. This same-yet-different forest was a reminder that everything changes, even places that seem like they should exist out of time. Fraver, now a professor at the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources, spent a significant chunk of six years working at Big Reed while doing research for his doctorate on the historical disturbances that influenced the development of Big Reed’s old-growth forest. [2] The first national forest was established as the Yellowstone Park Timber and Land Reserve on March 30, 1891, then in the Department of the Interior. The big beeches were felled by beech bark disease – a malady that came to North America from Europe in 1890 and by the 1930s was killing beeches in Maine. She bunked in one of the cabins on the shore of the pond with other team members, putting in 10 days or two weeks at a time before returning to civilization for a few days. Webinars. Some corresponded to major hurricanes. hemlocks. Largest Selection of Beer, Wine & Spirits in Maine. We left the old cabins behind, curved around Big Reed Pond and headed toward the summit of Big Reed Mountain, an unimpressive hump that Sferra said would offer us no expansive views, but that seemed as good an objective as any. They’re slow growing and they’re in the understory. [A][1][4][5], There is at least one national forest in all but ten states: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Rhode Island (although Kansas and North Dakota have national grasslands). It required raising $1.1 million, the largest amount the chapter had ever raised for a single purchase by far. While a hollow-sounding watermelon bodes well for your picnic, with trees it’s the opposite. The National Park Service supports the Maine Acadian Heritage Council, an association of historical societies, cultural clubs, towns, and museums that work together to support Maine Acadian culture in the St. John Valley. Maine’s resilient forests have been harvested for wood products for over 200 years, yet 90% of the state remains forested – the highest percentage in the country and we have largely maintained our forest biodiversity. That purchase was completed in 1990; the price: $287,000. Big Reed’s trees escaped the ax and, later, the chainsaw, more through accidents of timing and geography than through any intentional preservation, said Sferra. Although the largest National Forests are in Alaska and Maine has the largest forest cover in the US, California has the highest number of national forests. 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