By Kristen E. Humphrey, MLA, Local Assistance and Training Planner
Last fall, in our September 2021 edition of Planning Practice Monthly, we announced the availability of the Economic Adjustment Strategy Summary (EAS) Report for the forestry industry. In that edition, we also summarized the document and described its importance to the state and to the Maryland Department of Planning.
Continue readingby Daniel Rosen, AICP, Resource Conservation Planner, and Kristen E. Humphrey, MLA, Local Assistance and Training Planner
Many might be surprised to learn, despite the state’s diminutive size, that wood and wood/forest products are big business in Maryland.
In 2016, according to one measure, the forest products sector contributed 16,500 jobs and $3.86 billion to the Maryland economy (EAS Summary, page 2).
Paradoxically, forestry—the harvesting of trees and manufacture of wood products—also promotes conservation by showing landowners that growing trees is an economically viable alternative to development.
Unfortunately, forestry has been declining in Maryland in recent years. The closing of the 131-year-old Luke paper mill in Allegany County in 2019, with its loss of 675 jobs, shows the cost of this downward trend to rural Maryland communities.
Continue readingby Kristen E. Humphrey, MLA, Local Assistance and Training Planner
This August, the Western Maryland Resource Conservation and Development Council (WMRC&D) will be releasing its Maryland Forestry Economic Adjustment Strategy (EAS).
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