5th Issue 2025

Flashcards containing key vocabulary from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources: Forest Action Plan 2020-2025

The Mission of Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR)

To lead Maryland in securing a sustainable future for our environment, society, and economy by preserving, protecting, restoring, and enhancing the State’s natural resources.

The Mission of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service

To restore, manage, and protect Maryland’s trees, forests and forested ecosystems to sustain our natural resources and connect people to the land.

The seven principles of sustainable forestry as defined in the international Montreal Process

Includes biodiversity, forest productivity, ecosystem health, soil and water health, global carbon, socio-economic support, and legal/institutional frameworks.

Core commitments in the Strategy of the 2020 Maryland Forest Action Plan

Maintaining a skilled logging workforce to ensure high-quality harvests.

Forestry technical assistance, cost-share and tax abatement programs

Commitments that help private landowners plan and carry out goals for their forest.

Priorities to manage Forest Health

Training, coordination, planning, and information exchange to most effectively manage forest health stressors.

Forests as the natural land cover

In combination with best management practices that protect streams and water quality during harvests, this is the best land use for water quality.

Maryland's Strong Environmental Policies

These work to limit but not prevent forest loss during development and encourage sustainable forest management.

Efforts to respond to Climate Change

Expanded tree planting, retain existing forests, and manage for diverse, well-stocked, vigorous forests help Maryland adapt to the changing climate and building resilience while sequestering carbon.

Maryland’s forests

The foundation for native wildlife, healthy watersheds, scenic beauty, and a renewable natural resource-based economy in the state

Development and fragmentation

The greatest threat to our woodlands and their benefits

An active policy environment

Helps retain trees, forests, and forestry.

The Maryland Forest Action Plan was produced as part of

A national strategy to “redesign” how federal and state cooperative assistance programs address America’s forest lands.

Maryland’s forest resource assessment

Describes forest conditions on all ownerships in the state, Identifies forest-related benefits and services, Highlights issues and trends of concern as well as opportunities for positive action, Delineates high priority forest landscapes to be addressed, Outlines broad strategies for addressing the national priorities along with critical issues and landscapes identified through the assessment

Seven Criteria of Forest Sustainability established through the Montreal Process

Conservation of biological diversity, maintenance of productive capacity of forest ecosystems, maintenance of forest ecosystem health and vitality, conservation and maintenance of soil and water resources, maintenance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles, maintenance and enhancement of long-term multiple socioeconomic benefits to meet the needs of societies, legal, institutional, and economic framework for forest conservation and sustainable management

Maryland’s Forest Strategy

Describes how the Maryland Forest Service proposes to invest both competitive and non-competitive federal funding, along with other available resources, to address national and regional priorities as well as those identified in the state’s forest resource assessment , Describes how the state’s proposed activities will accomplish national program objectives and respond to specific performance measures, Outlines a specific timeline for project/program implementation, Provides a detailed budget including opportunities to leverage non-federal resources, Identifies partner/stakeholder involvement, Identifies strategies for monitoring outcomes and revising action as needed

Finding: Maryland Assessment 2020

Maryland has 39% forest cover and a continued trend of slow loss of forest land.

Maryland Assessment 2020

Maryland is well-positioned to provide mature forests, which now make up 78% of Maryland’s forest cover; 40% of Maryland’s forests are over 80 years old.

Finding: Maryland Assessment 2020

Wildfire acres burned has declined, which is correlated with trends in increased rainfall and increased use of prescribed fire to restore fire-adapted ecosystems and manage wildfire risk.

Other State commitments

Other State commitments are in policies and signed agreements, such as grant funding and the Chesapeake Bay Agreement Action Plan

Forest markets

An essential part of paying for practices needed for forest health and costs of land ownership

Maryland forest types, dominated by oaks and yellow-poplar, are considered to have moderate to high adaptive capacity in the face of climate change, but red spruce habitats

Are at lower risk

Strategy I.A.2.

To conserve Maryland forests using a spectrum of land conservation programs, policies, and laws in a way that honors private property rights and sustains diverse forest habitats and product markets.

Finding: Maryland Assessment 2020

The area of sustainably certified forests has expanded since 2010.

Coastal maritime forests

Are at great risk

Strategy I.A.3.

To expand tree planting, forest restoration, and post-planting care to help meet or exceed the no-net-loss-of-forest goal.

For landowners with more than 5 acres interested in managing forests.

To prepare, implement, and monitor sustainable forest management plans that recommend actions to meet landowner goals and address forest health concerns.

Strategy I.A.5.

To develop and share informational resources for landowners to help them maintain and manage forests, with emphasis on new and future owners.

Establish forest management for wildlife demonstration areas

To showcase ecological forestry techniques that landowners could use to improve desired wildlife habitats, from managing towards mature forest conditions to designing early successional habitat to benefit declining shrubland species

Partner with community groups and local governments to identify landscape-scale forest health challenges

To partner with community groups and local governments to identify landscape-scale forest health challenges and local priorities for forest conservation and restoration, considering priority forests in green infrastructure mapping in local planning and policies

Habitat for rare native species dependent on forest ecosystems

Priorities in the 2015 Maryland’s State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP).

Partner with forest industry and environmental stakeholders

Partner with forest industry and environmental stakeholders to maintain and attract markets to support sustainable forestry and building practices.

Salvage cut

Is the removal of dead, damaged, or diseased trees to recover maximum value prior to deterioration.

Rural development partners to create green jobs

To partner with rural development partners to create green jobs and promote a diverse forest products industry for sustainable communities.

Clean-burning, high efficiency woody biomass technology

To develop markets for clean-burning, high efficiency woody biomass technology.

Demonstrate Sustainable Forest Management on Public Lands

To demonstrate Sustainable Forest Management on Public Lands - Use public forest lands to demonstrate the practice of sustainable forest management that could be emulated on private land and supply scarce landscape elements like old-growth and early successional habitat for the public good.

Objective I.D.

Use public forest lands to demonstrate the practice of sustainable forest management that could be emulated on private land and supply scarce landscape elements like old-growth and early successional habitat for the public good.

Maintain capacity for forest management

To maintain capacity for forest management, including maintaining necessary workforce levels and appropriate skill sets.

Sustainable forestry

Is the practice of meeting the forest resource needs and values of the present without compromising the similar capability of future generations

Emergency response to natural resource threats.

Wildfires, storms, and other deadly threats that require immediate action to protect forests and minimize damage

Timely and effective fire suppression for wildland fires

Is to provide timely and effective fire suppression for wildland fires, maintaining skills for an incident command system.

Timely and effective response to other emergencies or disasters

Is to provide timely and effective response to other emergencies or disasters affecting forests (invasive species, storm damage, earthquakes….).

Control invasive plants where normal forest growth and regeneration is threatened

To develop approaches to reduce threats from long-term stressors to forests - control of deer browsing where normal forest regeneration is threatened

Important for wildfire risk in

Wildland Urban Interface

Fire suppression capacity

The ability to control wildfires, maintaining services to priority areas

Prioritizing fish and wildlife habitat

The importance of streams

Priority watersheds and work with communities to improve source water protection

Work with communities to improve source water protection through watershed forestry, watersheds and work with communities to improve source water protection through watershed forestry.

Improve sources of high-quality sources of drinking water

Managing forests for high-quality sources of drinking water: connecting people to healthy forests through clean drinking water initiatives in priority watersheds

Revitalize to the Chesapeake Bay

Working with partners to identify and revitalize waterways critical to the social, economic, ecosystem health of communities.

Expand awareness

Conserving Forests Important for Water Quality, Expand awareness of programs and approaches available to conserve forests important for water quality, coordinating with adjacent states.

Minimum % of Maryland stream sides and shorelines be protected with riparian forest buffers

70% of Maryland stream sides and shorelines must be protected with riparian forest buffers.

Expand awareness and monitoring of best management practices

Work with loggers and landowners to use BMPs effectively, partnering with Soil Conservation Districts, local governments, MDE , Master Logger, and the University of Maryland Extension.

Best Management Practices (BMPs)

Is the need for the proper management of Maryland forests

Promote diverse nature-based solutions

Solutions for healthy lifestyles and healing.

Benefits of sustaining forest landscapes

Benefits include: cleaner drinking water, thriving wildlife, climate benefits, and economic prosperity

Economic impact of the

Conserving and managing working forest landscapes is important

Help people

Trees and forests help people heal faster and live healthier lives with many opportunities.

Expand tree planting

Work or make effort to expand tree and forest planting to improve carbon sequestration, air quality, heat. And storm water management.

Improve mitigation potential.

Expand tree plant is important to help improve tree survival and growth for greater mitigation.

Management for climate and sustainable trees

Mitigate climate change with sustainable forest management, carbon

Climate change

Is known as planting and care for trees and forests impacts that can help combat climate change and all the nature hazards to the ecosystems of Maryland.

Sustainable Forest Management

Adaptation, mitigation ,and sustainable forest management for both urban, residential, and rural to help Maryland by climate changes and to protect the people, livestock and building a climate of resilience and maintain the ecosystem of earth.

management strategies

Incorporate climate change adaptation into forest management strategies, that addresses climate variability, such as warmer, wetter winters and drought in summers, maintaining appropriate tree stocking levels for greater tree vigor in the face of changing weather patterns.

Adaptation Planning Process

Define, Asses, evaluate, identify, monitor

The three components of vulnerability

Exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity

Increasing drought due to climate change can lead to what?

Low moisture stresses on trees and soil and increased fire frequency

Negatives of high severity fires

Loss of habitat, loss of food source, destruction of communities, and increased invasives

What is the biggest threat to Forest in Maryland?

development, fragmentation.

Fragmention

the separation of wood acres throughout public un-regulated land ownership

Landowner first management

determine Forest History, contact Forester, identify goals and objectives implement forestry plan

3 components of vulnerability

Exposure: the degree of environmental changes a species will experience. Sensitivity: to global change and how drastically it would be affected. Adaptive capacity: how well the tree continues to flourish

Adaptive capacity

“persist in space” “shift in space”

Programs In Maryland to decrease climate change

background/buffers, rain gardens, 5 million tree initiative, Maryland's residential clean energy rebate program, Maryland plant trees coupon program, forestry legacy program, greenhouse gas reduction act mitigation

Ideal length for a riparian buffer

35-300 feet

What way do plants migrate because of climate change

uphill and to the northward. Cooler temperatures north, uphill is also colder, both help then escape heat

Main goals of the forest action plan

to grow forests, jobs, and habitat

Forest ownership in Maryland percent

Private - 73%. State - 18.5%. local - 5.8%. federal - 2.7%

Paris agreement

legally binding international treaty adopted in 2015 to combat climate change. Long term temperature goal of kess than 2° C increased global temperature compared to pre industrial

Urban issues connected with climate change

heat island affect: urban is hotter than rural because of more metal, people, and electricity. Lower air quality.

How much of Maryland's forest coverage

39% but with all canopy included it's 50%

Fire triangle

fuel, oxygen, ignition

Examples of carbon sinks

artificial and natural reservoirs that absorb and store carbon, naturally regulating earths climate. Oceans, forest, railroad ties, furniture, soils, wetlands, rocks

What type of forests is Maryland made up of?

old and new growth: pine, hardwood. Moderate to high adaptive capacity, manh maritime forests, affected by saltwater intrusion.

Invasive species

longhorn asian beetle, mute swan spotted lantern fly (tree of heaven), northern snakehead, blue catfish, Japanese knottwood, ottom olive, gypsy moth