Protect State Forests in Maryland

We, the undersigned, request that the state forests in Maryland be managed primarily to preserve and conserve our streams, water supplies, and watersheds and to provide habitat for wildlife, fish and plant communities. Less than 50\% of Maryland remains forested, and only 12\% of these forests are owned by the public.

Wood fiber production and nondestructive recreation may be a secondary goals in the management of public forests, but subservient to the goals of preservation and conservation.

Background information
Forests offer a range of ecosystem services to the public. Forests help maintain the chemical composition of the atmosphere by producing the oxygen we need to breathe. Forest systems remove natural and human-made wastes from the air and water. Forests help to prevent both erosion and flooding by binding the soil surface and allowing rain to sink into the soil where it raises the water table and is released to streams and springs slowly, rather than running off quickly. This keeps our streams and aquifers charged with water.

Most forests in Maryland are privately owned. Private landowners should be encouraged to plant and grow more forests and scientifically manage them, while management plans for state forests are altered to primarily provide ecosystem services and wildlife habitat. Information on the critical ecosystem services provided by forests should be available to all private landowners.

Young forests are relatively easily created, and are abundant throughout Maryland. Species like whitetail deer and exotic invasive plants thrive in this type habitat. Old growth forests are almost nonexistent in Maryland, but numerous species of both plants and animal communities require mature or old growth forests of relatively large acreage to survive. These species include neotropical migrant birds, predators, some lichens, and many herbaceous plants and vernal herbs. Scientific documents show that "very frequent harvests, on the order of every 20 to 70 years, remove nutrients from the ecosystem faster than natural processes can replace them, and frequent harvests diminish species diversity by depriving the forests of colonizing life history stages of plants and animals that require late successional forest". Far more forested land should be managed specifically for species that require mature forest habitats.

Today, about 50\% of the state forests are being logged in a rotational cycle of about 50 years. Frequent logging prevents the forest from evolving into a mature forest. Logging results in a forests being disturbed and impacted by logging vehicles and roads used to access and harvest timber. Logging roads, penetrating into the forest interior, provide access for invasive plants and diseases that further impact native biodiversity and forest health. Logging activities have a negative impact on species populations by reducing their food supply, eliminating their shelter, and fragmenting their habitat.