Our forests once covered more than 90% of the state.  After European settlement, the forests were cleared to create farmland, and by the mid 1800s most of the state was in agricultural use.  Since then, the forests have recovered, now covering more than 60% of the state’s five million acres. Today, the various forest ecosystems across the Commonwealth each support a wide variety of wildlife, including dozens of rare species.

Our forests are a key economic engine for a variety of important sectors:

According to the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, approximately half of the state’s $21 billion tourism industry involves forests, including fall foliage trips and outdoor recreation.

A state report shows that Massachusetts’ wood products industry includes more than 40 mills and hundreds of harvesters, foresters and manufacturing jobs which generate over $700 million per year.

Forests are our best and least-costly water filtration system; they help maintain our supply of clean drinking water by capturing rainfall and slowly filtering it through the soil to rivers and streams.

Forests positively impact real estate; studies have shown that property values are enhanced by forest protection.

 In addition, forests add significantly to our quality of life:

• Forests help clean our air of pollution, and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to slow the extent of global warming.
• Our forests offer a wide range of recreational activities, from hiking and cross-country skiing to hunting and fishing.
• Forests provide much-needed habitat for wildlife. Bear, bobcat, wood thrush and Jefferson’s salamander are all dependent on forests for at least part of their life cycle.

In the past two decades, the amount of forest has begun to decline for the first time since the 1800s due to expanding development.  A recent study found that more than 75% of Massachusetts forests are within ¼ mile of development.

As a result, poorly planned large-lot developments have caused significant declines in forests. In the forested areas of Western Massachusetts, development has interspersed new homes amid previously unbroken forest tracts, resulting in smaller parcel sizes. The number of parcels of 10 acres or less has doubled in the last 15 years. 

With forests becoming more fragmented, some of the traditional characteristics of our forests are slowly being lost.  Animals that need large areas to forage and reproduce are losing suitable habitat.  The forest industry, which requires woodlots of at least 20 acres to make commercial forest management feasible, is finding whole regions where this important rural economy is disappearing. 

Finally, non-native invasive plant species, which thrive in areas disturbed by development, are crowding out native forest communities by aggressively competing for space, sunlight and nutrients in the soil.

Given these threats, a balanced approach to conserving forests is essential. This approach includes encouraging sustainable management of working woodlands and setting aside from commercial forestry diverse examples of the various forest types in Massachusetts.

Strengthening working woodlands involves educating thousands of owners of forestland about the benefits of sustainable commercial forest management. Such benefits include improvement of wildlife habitat, steady income from the sale of sustainable forest products, support for local businesses that create and sell items from locally grown timber and a reduction in our dependence on imported forest products. Currently, Massachusetts imports more than 95% of its wood products.

Setting aside representative forest areas involves scientifically selecting unique, unfragmented forest blocks that best represent the major forest ecosystems found in Massachusetts.  The location of these core forests, called forest reserves, will be made with input from various forest experts, forestry organizations, local communities, conservation organizations and the general public. These forests will be set aside from commercial forestry and will be principally located within large state ownerships, but may also include cooperative management with adjacent municipal, non-profit conservation and private owners.

Forests are more than trees. They include a complex web of interacting species in both the trees overhead and the soil below. Some of these functions we are only now beginning to understand, and each element may perform a role central to the viability of the entire forest system. A forest reserve is an area that is managed to support the range of animals, plants, and natural communities found there. Reserves are also places where the forest is set aside from commercial harvesting, and thus can begin to retain the species, soils and natural processes of Massachusetts’ original forests.

A network of effective reserves will include both small reserves – ranging in size from tens to hundreds of acres – and large reserves, which may be up to 15,000 acres in size.

While sustainable commercial forest management can improve woodlands and provide landowners and communities with many benefits, setting aside carefully selected areas from these activities offers many benefits as well. 

Through careful stewardship, reserves can develop unique features such as old trees, uncommon species of understory plants, large decaying “nurse logs” on the forest floor and “pit and mount” soils that follow the natural uprooting of older trees.

Reserves can also serve as areas to study natural processes as forests continue to age and respond to natural disturbances.  This information will help enhance our best practices for sustainable forestry. 

Some species, such as the scarlet tanager, require conditions found only in undisturbed forest interiors in order to breed successfully. Reserves provide high-quality, unfragmented habitat for these species, thus helping ensure their survival.

Finally, because they will be located where sensitive and rare species exist, reserves will help conserve these species and strengthen their occurrence in surrounding working forests. 

State agencies have been working with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and other organizations with expertise in forest analysis to help gather initial data needed to evaluate potential forest reserve sites.  TNC recently completed a study of the most intact forest blocks within the Lower New England/Northern Piedmont Ecoregion that runs from Southern Maine to Northern Virginia (an ecoregion is a relatively large geographic area delineated by climate, vegetation, geology and other ecological patterns). Intact blocks are the cornerstone of an ecological reserve system, as they are less vulnerable to the impacts of fragmentation.  TNC has also conducted research to help determine how large a forest reserve should be to withstand natural disturbances as well as provide adequate habitat for forest interior species. 

In order to scientifically compare potential sites, state agencies convened a group of forest ecology experts to assemble a list of measures, including the areas of forest far-removed from development, areas of true “old growth” and other forests that were never cleared for agriculture, and areas with large numbers of viable natural communities. 

The panel of experts used these measures to propose a list of potential areas that best represent the original and diverse forests of Massachusetts. State agencies are now reviewing this list with forestry organizations, local communities, conservation organizations and the general public.

On state lands, commercial activities, such as timber harvesting and gravel removal, will not be allowed within forest reserves.  However, traditional public access activities like hiking, hunting and fishing will be allowed.

Management of reserves would focus on reducing the impact of past human influences.  For example, management may include the removal of non-native species (such as buckthorn, bittersweet and barberry), restoration of wetland communities, the application of prescribed fire, and research. To help fund these activities, state agencies will partner with non-profit organizations and private foundations.

Forest reserves have no legal or regulatory effect on privately owned land.  Where private lands occur in proximity to state forest reserve areas, state agency staff will communicate the special nature of these forests to private, municipal or non-profit owners. However, the decision to manage the land as a reserve is left to the owner. 

When private land adjacent to a state forest reserve becomes available for purchase, the state will give these areas a high priority within its land conservation programs. 

Yes. Both the state and federal governments manage grant programs that provide financial and technical assistance to landowners:

It is estimated that the large and small reserves will total up to 20% of the state’s 500,000 acres of forest.  However, the loss of revenues and economic benefits from commercial forest management in these areas will be more than recouped by the expanded comprehensive, sustainable forest management that is planned for the remaining working forests through the state’s recent “Green Certification” designation.

In recognition of the importance of sustainable forestry income to landowners and towns, the state and partners will work together to bolster Massachusetts “working woodlands” by proposing state tax incentives for sustainable forestry and supporting increases to the Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program.

In May of 2004, 500,000 acres of state forest, wildlife and watershed land received the Green Certification designation by the independent, international Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

The FSC promotes responsible forest management by certifying environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable forest management.   Consumers purchasing products bearing the FSC label – or that of FSC-sponsored Scientific Certification Systems – can be assured that their wood products come from forests that have been responsibly managed to FSC standards.

The highest environmental forestry designation, Green Certification is awarded after a detailed, independent audit of forest practices in more than 100 categories, including the protection of rare species and water resources, the sustainable harvest of forest products, and the establishment of non-harvested forest reserves.

Massachusetts is one of less than a dozen states to pass this rigorous evaluation.  The state’s certification is by far the most expansive and comprehensive designation to date.

The state’s plan to strengthen Massachusetts’ working woodlands involves supporting our local forestry sector (foresters, timber harvesters and mills) to make them a more viable and sustainable industry.  Sustainable forestry is the practice of harvesting trees in a manner that ensures long-term, continuous production and forest health. To accomplish this, foresters make certain that:

• Forest stands are maintained or restored to fully stocked, vigorous growing condition.
• Steady, significant progress is made over time in regulating the age and/or size class distribution of stands.
• Harvest patterns generally exhibit stability, with no wide fluctuations in the amounts harvested.
• Management is oriented towards yielding high-value timber products.

Even with our wealth of forest cover, 95% of the wood products used by Massachusetts residents are imported. Decreasing our dependence on distant forest products will mean vibrant woodlands with diverse wildlife habitats as well as strong, rural economies and the creation of permanent jobs.

Ultimately, increasing the viability of our forestry economic sector will preserve forestland by ensuring that forests are valued for their inherent natural resource attributes.

For information on upcoming meetings to gain input into potential forest reserve locations and on forest management plans for state forests, visit the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs’ website at http://www.mass.gov/envir/forest/default.htm.