North Maine Woods

The North Maine Woods is the northern geographic area of the state of Maine in the United States. The thinly populated region is overseen by a combination of private individual and private industrial owners and state government agencies, and is divided into 155 unincorporated townships within the NMW management area.^[1] There are no towns or paved roads.^[2]

The region covers more than 3.5 million acres (14,000 km²) of 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.^[3] Much of the woods are currently owned by timber corporations, including Seven Islands Land Company, Plum Creek, Maibec, Orion Timberlands and J. D. Irving. Ownership changes hands quite frequently and is often difficult to determine.^{[citation needed]}

Its main products are timber for pulp and lumber, and the area is used for hunting and outdoor recreation.

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