Potomac State Forest Fire - News 1, 10-08-2024

Eastern forests cover about 384 million acres (1,550,000 km²) and are predominantly broadleaf (74%), with the exception of extensive coniferous forests and plantations in the southern coastal region. These are largely in private ownership (83%). By contrast, about 363 million acres (1,470,000 km²) of western forests are predominantly coniferous (78%) and in public ownership (57%).

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 Nearly ten million private individuals own about 422 million acres (1,710,000 km²) of forest and other wooded land. Most public forest land is held by four Federal agencies (United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service) as well as numerous state, county, and municipal government organizations.

Near the Chesapeake Bay and near Maryland forests, sea levels are rising at double the world's average rate. Along with climate change, forests on Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore increasingly are affected by saltwater intrusion, or the movement of saltwater towards land that occurs when too much freshwater is removed from aquifers, and the settling of the land itself. In July 2020, saltwater intrusion had affected 50,365 forest acres across the Eastern Shore, up dramatically from 10,174 acres in 2019. The General Assembly ordered the Department of Planning, along with the Departments of Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources, to devise a plan to adapt to saltwater intrusion and update it every five years (Chapter 628, Acts of 2018).

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