DACF Home → Bureaus & Programs → Maine Forest Service → About Us → Forest Policy and Management → Water Resources → Statewide Standards for Timber Harvesting in Shoreland Areas → Statewide Standards – Going Statewide in 2026!
Statewide Standards – Going Statewide in 2026!
Maine’s “Statewide Standards for Timber Harvesting and Related Activities in Shoreland Areas” – aka MFS Chapter 21 rules – will apply in Unorganized Territories beginning in January 2026.
Transitioning to Statewide Standards for Timber Harvesting and Related Activities in Shoreland Areas in the Unorganized Territories - Webinar
Below are the recordings from the webinar presented on September 16, 2025.
Background
Statewide Standards (“SWS”) were developed in 1999-2005 to streamline the regulations that apply to timber harvesting around waterbodies. The Statewide Standards:
- reduce duplication of rules & confusion
- make it easier to plan harvests and comply with rules, and
- protect water quality in Maine’s lakes, ponds, streams, and nonforested wetlands.
SWS rules take effect in organized towns that adopt them. The authorizing statute states that:
- Once a “critical mass” of 252 towns has adopted SWS, the SWS rules would also apply in unorganized towns.
- SWS will take effect in the unorganized towns one full calendar year after the year in which “critical mass” has been reached.
Currently, more than 252 organized towns have now adopted statewide standards.
What is the SWS Status of a town, township, or plantation?
Visit our Maps and Mapping Resources to search for the town, township, or plantation to find out if it is currently under SWS Rules or not.