Natural Resources - Non-Timber Forest Products

University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s natural resources experts conduct field research and provide information and consultation for people who harvest and use non-timber forest products.

What are Non-Timber Forest Products?

Photos by David Fuller.

• Fiber
  • brown/black ash
  • spruce roots
  • bark
• Food
  • berries
  • maple syrup
  • fiddleheads
  • mushrooms
  • nuts
• Gum — spruce gum
  
• Herbs and medicinals
  • compounds from pine needles and birch bark
  • goldthread
• Ornamentals
  • balsam fir, hemlock and pine boughs
  • cedar
  • birch bark
  • branches
  • cones
• Seeds
  • wildflowers
  • conifer
    

Potential for the State of Maine

• enhancing small business development in rural forested areas
• helping farmers and other woodlot owners supplement incomes between timber harvests
• assisting farmers and other woodlot owners to pay their taxes and keep family forests

Non-timber forest products are an important part of Maine’s heritage and culture and have a current estimated value of $55 million/year.

Research

Ongoing research for non-timber forest products is vital to determine sustainable harvest levels and practices to ensure they maintain their cultural and economic importance for generations to come.

• 4-year research project by UMaine Extension in Franklin County to study the effect of harvesting on Ostrich Ferns (fiddleheads)