Plantations and Natural Regeneration
During a recent conversation with a business leader in Maine, he expressed concern that a timber harvest had occurred near his vacation home, but after a full year, the site had not been replanted. He all but accused Maine’s entire forest industry of operating unsustainably because a parcel of land that he doesn’t own and doesn’t know much about wasn’t replanted.
I took the opportunity to explain that most forests in Maine and across the Northeast are naturally regenerated, relying on natural processes like seed dispersal and sprouting rather than planting. Forests of this region successfully regenerate on their own, and I reminded him that all the stone walls in the woods were stone walls at the edge of a field a century ago.
There are regions of the country where planting of seedlings post-harvest is critically important. Across the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest, planting of commercial species is critical to establishing a new timber crop. In other parts of the country, less so.
In Maine, there are a couple of large landowners who have committed to planting the right tree on highly productive sites. This was more prevalent when paper companies owned much of the state’s timberland, but it certainly still occurs, and 2% of the private timberland in the state was established via plantation.
The USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory & Analysis (FIA) estimates that the percent of private timberland established via planting compared to naturally regenerated (in FIA terms, the stand origin is “natural” or “artificial”). While this information is not available for all states, it is for most and certainly demonstrates a range by state and region.
In Oregon, 43% of private timberland is planted. In Washington and across the Southeast, about a third of private timberland is established via planting. In New England, much of the Lakes States, and part of Appalachia, it is often less than 2%.
Replanting forests is essential to the country’s forest industry. For years, one of FRA’s key policy objectives has been to ensure that enough H-2B visa non-immigrant guestworkers are allowed into the country to conduct this important work. These H-2B forestry workers are responsible for replanting more than 85% of U.S. trees—about 1.5 billion annually on 2.2 million acres. (Check out FRA’s H2B Video and H2B Issue Brief). However, it’s not how forests are regenerated in much of the country which is just as important to recognize.
Back to the business leader who initially brought this issue to my attention – I had long assumed that most people in Maine knew that our forests naturally regenerate, but I was wrong. This person is someone I know professionally, so I spent a little time and figured out exactly where the parcel in question was. I then called the landowner, got a description of the harvest, and asked if they had similar stands 5-, 10- and 20-years post-harvest. I’ve provided a map of these stands for my friend to visit this summer when he’s at his vacation property, and he promised to report back with what he sees (which will be stands of thick regeneration).
I’m looking forward to hearing his reaction.
