The timber resources of Maryland

Abstract

Under the authority of the McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act of May 22, 1928, and subsequent amendments, the Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, conducts a series of continuing forest surveys of the states to provide up-to-date information about the forest resources of the Nation. A resurvey of the timber resources in Maryland was made in 1962-63 by the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, approximately 14 years after the initial forest survey. In this resurvey, as in the initial survey, the Northeastern Station again received cooperation from the Maryland Department of Forests and Parks. The Department purchased the aerial photographs of the entire State that were used for the resurvey. State field crews remeasured some of the initial forest survey plots and established new sample plots on all the State forest land in Garrett County. For more precise local data additional plots were measured by State crews to intensify the survey in nine counties in western and southern Maryland. This report summarizes the timber-resource situation and the changes that have taken place since the initial survey, and points out trends that may affect future timber supplies for forest industries. In this resurvey, some of the initial plots were remeasured to provide estimates of net annual timber growth and to update the initial forest inventory. New field plots were established for an independent second estimate. These two sets of estimates were weighted and combined to give the current estimates of forest area and timber volume. Sampling errors, which indicate reliability, are shown for many of the new estimates. Users of these data are cautioned to read with care the definitions of terms and the section pertaining to the reliability of the estimates.

Citation

Ferguson, Roland H. 1967. The timber resources of Maryland. Resour. Bull. NE-7. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 93p.