Matrix-forming Forest

Red Spruce- Balsam fir, Beech-Birch-Maple Northern hardwoods, Red spruce-hardwoods, Others.

Forest comprises 84 percent of the ecoregion, most of it recovering from almost two centuries of logging. Now in its 3rd or 4th rotation, forestry is less profitable and the land base is being sold for other uses. Forest ecosystems have lost their legacies of large coarse woody debris and they are presently crisscrossed by a vast network of roads and highways serving as both barriers between interior patches and conduits into once inaccessible places.

Key conclusions for forest

Based on our results we recommend that a minimum of 27% of the forest be conserved and restored in a series of 176 forest reserves, each comprised of 25,000 acres or more contiguous forest. Further we advocate that a subset of 5% (25,000 acres per block) be devoted to the restoration of complete forest ecosystems with biological legacies and “old-growth” characteristics. Outside of the core restoration areas, forest-cover and biodiversity should be maintained through methods that prevent conversion to non-forest cover and insure “well managed forest.”

We are already more than one-third of the way towards meeting this goal. As of November 2005, almost one-third the 176 matrix forest areas have established 25,000 acre core areas and another third have established cores within a 5000 to 24,000 size range. Additionally 11% of the recommended forest-core land is already protected from conversion with a GAP status of 3.

More: Table of NAP Portfolio Matrix Sites (xls)

Matrix Forest Chapter of the Ecoregional Plan.

• Appalachian Highland Blocks on Granitic or Mafic Bedrock (Block Group A1)
• Appalachian Highland Blocks on Sedimentary Bedrock (Block Group A2)
• Acadian Lowland Blocks on Granite or Mafic Bedrock (Block Group B1)
• Acadian Lowland Blocks on Sedimentary Bedrock (Group B2)