Forest Vulnerability

The state of Maryland recognizes that forests provide multiple ecological and socioeconomic benefits. Their ecological value includes attributes such as biodiversity and wildlife habitat, and the role that forest ecosystems play in improving air, water and soil quality. Forests are also an important socioeconomic resource for recreational and aesthetic uses, as well as for their economic value as timber.

With these values in mind, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has developed two tools that help describe the value of forest resources across the state, and which can be used to prioritize land acquisition or other planning goals. The Strategic Forest Lands Assessment (SFLA) classifies forests in Maryland according to their ecological and socioeconomic values.  Maryland's Green Infrastructure is a network of Maryland's remaining ecologically valuable lands, including large, contiguous tracts of forest lands and wetlands.

The greatest threat to forest resources in Maryland is the conversion of forests to non-forest lands, especially into developed land uses.  Using forecasts of development for Maryland, the vulnerability of Strategic Forests to the development threat can be examined under different future policy scenarios. Figure 1 below shows the vulnerability of the ecological Strategic Forests if current growth trends continue out to 2030.

Figure 1: These maps illustrates the vulnerability of ecological Strategic Forests in 2030 under current growth trends. Forests that will be under the most development pressure are located in the central and southern portion of the state, such as Charles County (shown in lower image).

Vulnerability of the Green Infrastructure network is assessed in terms of the area of each patch that may be lost to development. However, fragmentation of contiguous patches is another important dimension to vulnerability. While the threat of areal loss is serious in some areas (Figure 2), the threat of fragmentation is also a cause for concern (Figure 3).

Figure 2: The percent of each Green Infrastructure hub, or patch, that may be lost to development by 2030 under current trends.

Figure 3: The percent of each Green Infrastructure hub, or patch, that could potentially be affected by development in 2030 under current trends.

©Woods Hole Research Center, 2007