MAINE PUBLIC • November 25, 2024
Maine is the most heavily forested state in the country. But after generations of logging just a few stands of valuable old growth trees remain. Now, for the first time, researchers can find those old trees with incredible precision. John Hagan’s nonprofit, Our Climate Common, used light detection and ranging, or LiDAR, elevation data collected from flights over Maine. That mapped out old forest across 10.3 million acres in Maine’s unincorporated townships. Almost all that land is privately owned and logged repeatedly. The method, which maps the height of trees, is 94% accurate. "Now we know where it is. We know who owns it. We know how fast we're losing it. So now we're pivoting to OK, how are we going to conserve it?" Hagan said. Just 3% of the north woods can be considered late successional or old growth forest.