Yes.
Forest covers about 89% of Maine’s land area, comprising an estimated 17.5 million acres. Maine boasts the highest percentage of forest coverage of any U.S. state.
Nearly 92% of Maine forest is privately owned. State and local governments own just under 7%, and the remaining 1.4% is federally owned.
Despite a slight decline in the number of trees since 2016, the overall volume of live trees in Maine has grown, reaching 27.7 billion cubic feet in 2021, according to a survey by the U.S. Forest Service.
According to the Forest Service, annual harvests have decreased and tree mortality has risen, but more than a billion cubic feet of live tree volume is added to Maine’s forests annually. Each year, about 9,500 non-forest acres in Maine revert to forest, while 20,000 acres of forest are lost — an annual net loss of 10,500 acres.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry: 2024 Maine Forest Health Highlights
- U.S. Forest Service (U.S. Department of Agriculture): Forests of Maine, 2021
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