WRITTEN BY WANDA CURTIS

According to the Maine Forest Service (MFS), the state of Maine boasts the highest percentage of forested land of any state in the nation. Approximately 17.5 million acres of forest land cover upwards of 89 percent of the land area. 

Director of the Center for Research on Sustainable Forests Aaron Weiskittel said recently that Maine is not only the most heavily forested state in the nation, but that Maine’s history, culture, and economy are defined by trees. For centuries, he said, the working forest has shaped Maine’s character, rural communities, and way of life. 

“Maine ranks among the states most dependent on its forest sector, generating roughly $1 out of every $29 in state GDP and leading the country in the forest share of its exports,” Weiskittel said. “As we celebrate Maine Forest Products Week (Oct. 18-24), these unique 17.5 million working forest acres remain an essential dual economic engine, powering an $8.3 billion manufacturing base alongside a $3.4 billion outdoor recreation industry.”

According to Weiskittel, Maine’s forest products industry contributes $8.3 billion in total annual economic output, supports over 29,000 jobs, and accounts for 3.45% of state GDP. Outdoor recreation generates another $3.4 billion in value-added GDP through woods-dependent activities like hunting, fishing, guided outfitting, snowmobiling, camping, and leaf peeping across the state, he said. That’s a total of about $11 billion in total economic output generated through Maine’s forest industry.

“Maine’s 17.5 million acres of working forests, particularly the Maine North Woods, provide the land base and infrastructure like trail networks, access roads, and managed open space that make outdoor recreation possible,” Weiskittel said. “Outdoor recreation fits alongside the forest products industry because private working forest owners maintain open access for recreation, making the forest a dual economic engine for both wood manufacturing and tourism/recreation.”

Maine Exports Millions of Dollars in Wood Products Annually                  

According to the Census USA Trade Online for 2022, Maine shipped $577 million worth of forest products to 49 countries in 2022. The exports included $287 million worth of paper and paperboard, $171 million worth of wood and articles of wood, $119 worth of pulp and recovered paper, and about $9 million worth of furniture. About $385 million of those products went to Canada, $40 million to China, $36 million to Belgium, $28 million to Italy, $22 million to Germany, and $20 million to Mexico.

U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Transportation 2022 statistics show that Maine also sent $20 million worth of forest products to Connecticut, $28 million to Rhode Island, $47 million to New Jersey, $119 million to Vermont, $130 million to Pennsylvania, $178 million to Massachusetts, $204 million to New Hampshire, and $1.3 billion to New York that year. 

“Covering 17.5 million acres, Maine’s working forests anchor the rural economy and municipal tax base,” Weiskittel said.


Photo courtesy of Dean Pepper, owner of D-R-Pepper Wood Harvesting, and the Maine Forest Products Council.

Aroostook County Leads the Way

According to the 2023 Maine Forest Service Wood Processing Report, the largest Maine supplier of wood was Aroostook County. Roughly 839,000 green tons of pulpwood and 235 million board feet of saw logs were harvested there in 2023. Penobscot, Somerset, Washington, Piscataquis, Franklin, and Oxford counties also supply a large amount of wood. Southern and coastal counties contribute only a small amount, Weiskittel said.

The most popular species in Maine used for wood products, in recent years, have been spruce and fir. Those accounted for a little over half of its 890 million board feet of sawlogs in 2023, Weiskittel said. The next most popular species are red and white pine, he said. Those accounted for 172 million board feet of the sawlogs harvested that year.

Maine Also Imports Wood                                 

Interesting to note is the fact that Maine not only exports wood, but we also import wood from other New England states and Canada. The 2023 MFS Wood Processor Report shows that in 2023 Maine imported about 2.7 million tons of wood from New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario during that year. 

“Maine’s mills take in slightly more than Maine landowners send out,” Weiskittel said. “Canadian timber is often significantly closer to northern/eastern Maine mills than southern/western Maine timber, reducing freight costs. Paper and packaging mills require softwood/hardwood blends, importing roundwood or chips when local supply of a specific species falls short. Maine mills process 11 million green tons annually against 10 million tons of local harvest (2 million of which are exported), requiring imports to maintain full capacity.”