The problem of sprawl is moving north and is clearly affecting the towns in our
central Maine study area where fully 42% of forest parcels harvested were being
converted into housing developments or industrial use. Sprawl not only takes land
out of timber production but also brings a number of other problems, ranging from
habitat fragmentation to destruction of wildlife. A recent U.S. Forest Service report
concludes that there are 20 watersheds in the United States where the forests are
truly endangered by housing development. Two are in Maine: the lower Penobscot
and the lower Kennebec (Stein et al. 2005). Part of our study area is certainly in the
lower Kennebec watershed.