New England Forestry Foundation leverages $4.3M to conserve Maine’s old-growth forests 

The New England Forestry Foundation has announced a $4.3 million initiative funded by the U.S. Forest Service to help conserve late-successional and old-growth forests across Maine. The funding supports grants to landowners and logging companies that defer harvesting forests typically more than 100 years old, preserving critical wildlife habitat and carbon storage capacity. The first grant was awarded to Chaplin Logging to conserve 23 acres of mature forest while improving timber quality in younger woodlands. The funding serves to expand forest and habitat conservation without reducing earnings from logging.