Maryland’s Strategic Forest Lands Assessment

1. Maryland’s Strategic Forest Lands Assessment Forest Lands of Economic Importance Allegheny SAF 2002 Winter Meeting February 27, 2002 Maryland Department of Natural Resources

2. Maryland’s Strategic Forest Lands Assessment Identify “Strategic Forest Lands”, or those parts of the state where forest conservation and stewardship efforts would make the greatest contribution toward achieving a sustainable (ecologically and economically) forest resource land base.

3. Strategic Forests Assessment Components Strategic Forests Identification Programmatic Assessment Integration with other Efforts Vulnerability Assessment Socioeconomic Assessment Ecological Assessment

4. Socioeconomic Assessment • GIS Based Approach to quantifying … • Population Density: Influences on forest management • Parcelization • Local Economic Importance • Forest Ownership (public vs. private) • Water Supply Watersheds • Sourcing or Procurement Zones • Forest Products Operators Economically Important Forest Lands

5. Socioeconomic Influences on Forest Management Objectives • Forest Management Objectives Wildlife Habitat Forest Products Soil, Water and Air Quality Recreation Temperature Aesthetics/Quality of Life • Management Objectives differ in response to many factors • Sustainable Commercial Forestry and Land Uses • Urban Forests: Less likely: smaller parcels, less tolerant (noise, view, safety) • Rural Forests: More likely: larger parcels, more direct economic ties to forest resource-based economy

6. Regional Influences on Harvesting Probabilities • Population Density • Parcelization • Local Importance of Forest Products Industry

7. Population Density as a Predictor of Sustainable Commercial Forestry Liu and Scrivani. 1997. Virginia Department of Forestry

8. Population Density by Census Block

9. Logging probability

10. Parcelization Fewer Landowners Large Lots More Landowners Small Lots • Identify Forest Land with higher potential for resource extraction • Target Stewardship Incentives • Promote Sustainable Forest Management Activities • Identify Vulnerable “At Risk” Forests 1976 95,800 private owners 55 % < 10 acres 1989 130,600 private owners 65 % < 10 acres Parcelization Fragmentation

11. Percent of Forest Acres Nationwide with Landowner Intent to Harvest Timber within the next 10 years (1993) Birch, T.W. 1996.

12. GIS Method used to map Parcelization • Maryland PropertyView • GIS database developed by Maryland Department of Planning • Parcel centroids attributed with ownership, lot information and land value • Parcelization grid development • Interpolate point features to produce a continuous surface • Values reflect parcel size (acres)

13. Maryland PropertyView 360 acres ~10 acre lots 10 3,060 acres

14. Parcelization of private land

15. Forest Land parcelization

16. Local Economic Importance The Forestry and Wood Products Industry… • Is the fifth largest industry in the state. • Generates over 2.2 billion dollars annually. • Supplies over 14,500 jobs statewide. • Creates three (3) jobs are elsewhere in the economy for every job in the forestry and wood products industry.

17. The Forestry and Wood Products Industry Timber Management and Harvesting • Operation of timber tracts, tree farms and nurseries • Reforestation services • Harvesting and transporting logs Primary Wood Manufacturing • Processing logs into lumber, veneer, plywood, pulp and other products (Mills) Secondary Wood Manufacturing • Remanufacture of primary manufacturers products into finished products • Examples include furniture, toys, containers, etc.

18. Economic Indicators IMPLAN* Database: County Level • Multiple data sources: US Population Census, County Business Patterns, Regional Economic Information System (REIS) data, BLS ES-202 wage and employment data • Estimate the “gaps” (non-disclosure rules) Indicators • Employment: annual average jobs part and full time workers, self-employed *Minnesota IMPLAN Group, Inc., 1997

19. Total employment Trends: Timber Management and Harvesting: Eastern Region Primary Wood Manufacturing: Western Region Secondary Wood Manufacturing: Central Region

20. Relative employment logging and mills

21. Identification of Economically Important Strategic Forest Lands • Score attributes in each layer relative to economic importance • Rank 1 - 10 • Weight GIS layers relative to overall economic importance • Combine layers

22. Identification of Economically Important Strategic Forest Lands • Score attributes in each layer relative to economic importance • Rank 1 - 10 • Weight GIS layers relative to overall economic importance • Combine layers + + x 5 x 3 x 4

23. Privately Owned Lands Assessment

24. Strategic Forests Land Assessment The Maryland Department of Natural Resources gratefully acknowledges the support of the U.S. Forest Service, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry for financial assistance for this project.