Managing Your Farm’s Woodlands
Roughly 60% of Maine’s farmland currently grows trees. What part does the farm’s woodlot play in the overall operation of the farm? Who can help farmers know what the potential values of their woods are? How can a busy farmer or farm family tend to all their crops, including the ones beyond the field’s edge?
Resources
General Woodlot Management and Forestry
- Maine Forest Service (MFS) – e-mail or call 207.287.2791 or 1.800.367.0223 (in state)
- Be Woods Wise – getting started with how the MFS can help landowners
- Landowner Outreach Forester – 207.287.8430
Direct Technical Assistance, Information, and On-the-ground Advice
- Find your local Maine Forest Service District Forester
Financial Assistance Programs
- WoodsWISE Incentives to Stewardship Enhancement
- National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program
Topic-specific Information
- MFS Fact Sheets – in both Word and PDF formats
- Other MFS Publications and Reports
- Tree Identification – from the Centennial edition of Forest Trees of Maine (2008), available in PDF format or hard copy
- Forestry Rules of Maine – 2014 Edition
- Best Management Practices for Protecting Water Quality
- Soil Testing – University of Maine Cooperative Extension Soil Testing Service
- USDA-NRCS Soil Data
- Timber tax information
Harvesting, Utilizing, and Marketing Wood Products
- Stumpage Price reports
- 2010 Directory of Maine’s Primary Wood Processors
- GetRealGetMaine
- “Winter Crop” (PDF) – presentation from the 2015 Agricultural Trades Show
Agroforestry
- National Agroforestry Center
- Silvopasture
- Forest Farming or Multistory cropping
- Working Trees for Pollinators (PDF) – USDA National Agroforestry Center Brochure
Other Agencies and Organizations that provide forestry information and assistance: