Maine North Woods

The Maine North Woods is the northern geographic area of the state of Maine in the United States.

It covers more than 3.5 million acres (14,000 km²) of top forest land bordered by Canada to the west and north and by the early 20th century transportation corridors of the Canadian Pacific International Railway of Maine to the south and the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Ashland branch to the east. It includes western Aroostook and northern Somerset, Penobscot, and Piscataquis counties. Much of the woods is currently owned by the timber corporations, including Seven Islands Land Company, Plum Creek, Maibec, Orion Timberlands and Irving timber corporations. Ownership changes hands quite frequently and is often difficult to determine.

Its main products are timber for pulp and lumber, as well as a thriving hunting and outdoor recreation economy.

Included within its boundaries are two of the most famous wild rivers of the Northeastern United States: the St. John and the Allagash. The North Maine Woods completely surrounds the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

Read more about Maine North Woods:  Wildlife, Folklore, Proposed National Park

Famous quotes containing the words maine, north and/or woods:

    Midway the lake we took on board two manly-looking middle-aged men.... I talked with one of them, telling him that I had come all this distance partly to see where the white pine, the Eastern stuff of which our houses are built, grew, but that on this and a previous excursion into another part of Maine I had found it a scarce tree; and I asked him where I must look for it. With a smile, he answered that he could hardly tell me.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
    From North and from South, come the pilgrim and guest,
    When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
    The old broken links of affection restored,
    When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
    And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.
    What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
    What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)

    Out of the woods my Master came,
    Content with death and shame.
    When Death and Shame would woo Him last,
    From under the trees they drew Him last:
    ‘Twas on a tree they slew Him—last
    When out of the woods He came.
    Sidney Lanier (1842–1881)