Scientific Forest Management Area

Many visitors to Baxter State Park might be surprised to learn that forest products are harvested.

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Scientific Forest Management Area Details

Many visitors to Baxter State Park might be surprised to learn that forest products are harvested in a specific portion of the 209,000+ acre Park in accordance with directives of Percival Baxter. The area, named the Scientific Forest Management Area (SFMA), is a 30,000 acre plot in the Northwest corner of Baxter State Park. The SFMA includes portions of Webster Late, Webster Stream, and recreational trails. Percival Baxter established the SFMA in 1955 to, "become a showplace for those interested in forestry, a place where a continuing timber crop can be cultivated, harvested, and sold, where reforestation and scientific cutting will be employed, an example and an inspiration to others." Baxter, with his considerable foresight, purchased plots of forest degraded by logging and wildfires with the knowledge that the wilderness would one day be rejuvenated. Forestry requires a similar long term perspective, owing to the patient nature by which forests develop from young to mature growths, a process that can span the careers of multiple foresters. Forest managers selectively harvest, trees to influence the development of individual parts of a forest. This technique is just one of many tools available to forest managers as they orchestrate and maintain forest conditions to achieve management objectives such as protecting water quality, supporting biodiversity, and protecting the steady supply of sustainably harested forest products. The SFMA has been recognized for practicing exemplary forest management, and it received a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in 2001. A SFMA advisory committee, comprised of forestry professionals and interested members of the public, help Park staff determine management directives and policy objectives. See for yourself what forest management looks like by visiting one of the many forest management roads, hiking trails, or waterways in the SFMA. Tours for forestry groups and other interested parties can be arranged by contacting the Park Resource Manager (207-723-9616). "It has long been my purpose to create in our forests a large area wherein the State may practice the most modern methods of forest control reforestation and production…. I want this township to become a showplace for those interested in forestry, a place where a continuing timber crop can be cultivated, harvested, and sold, where reforestation and scientific cutting will be employed, an example and an inspiration to others. What is done in our forests today will help or harm the generations who follow us." Percival P. Baxter, 1955

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