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Habitat, Jobs and Recreation for Future Generations
In Wisconsin, our forests are much more than trees. They are an important part of our economy and central to our way of life. We hike, camp, ski and hunt in them and depend upon them for wildlife habitat, clean air and water, timber and jobs.
If we want to conserve our forests, especially in Wisconsin’s
Northwoods, we must act now before we lose a big part of our forest heritage forever.
Our Forests, Our Way of Life
Wisconsin’s 16 million acres of forests are the foundation for the pulp, paper, wood products and printing industries, which provide one in every eight manufacturing jobs and are among the leading employers in northern Wisconsin.
- In 2005, Wisconsin was first in the nation in the value of forest industry shipments. Wisconsin’s forest products and processing produced 15.6 percent ($19.5 billion) of the state’s total industrial output.
- Forests help protect water quality in our rivers and lakes and provide habitat for songbirds, wide-ranging mammals like black bears and hundreds of other plant and animal species.
- More people than ever before are using Wisconsin’s forests for hiking, camping, hunting and other recreational and tourism activities. Wisconsin households spend more than $5.5 billion per year on goods and services associated with forest-based recreation.
The Risk: Permanent Loss of Wisconsin Forests
- Traditionally, timber companies owned and managed lands for a century or more and were committed to stewardship of their lands. Today, their forestlands are more valuable as real estate than for growing trees, causing the sale of millions of acres across the country, including in Wisconsin.
- From 1999 to 2007, enrollment of forestland held by large industrial owners in the Wisconsin Forest Tax Law Program declined by 17 percent.
- Oftentimes, new owners subdivide large parcels of industrial forestland and sell them in smaller pieces for development. This puts jobs, recreational opportunities and wildlife habitat–everything we value about our forests–at risk.
- Industrial forestland has traditionally been open to a variety of public recreation uses such as hiking, snowmobiling, hunting, bird-watching, fishing and skiing. As large forestlands are sold, new owners may not place the same priority on public recreation.
The Solution: Support Federal and State Forest Legacy Programs
The federal Forest Legacy Program has been instrumental in conserving large areas of working forestland in Wisconsin. It provides states with 75 percent of the funding needed to purchase conservation easements from private landowners; the remaining 25 percent comes from private, local or state sources.
While Forest Legacy is an excellent partner in the conservation of Wisconsin’s forests, federal funding alone is not enough. From 1998 to 2006, average forestland sales prices statewide increased about 14 percent annually, from $854 to $2,415 per acre.
The Nature Conservancy is advocating the creation of a state companion to the federal Forest Legacy Program that would be used to acquire conservation easements on forestlands, thereby maintaining working forests and preventing fragmentation. The fund could also be used to provide the state match necessary to utilize federal Forest Legacy funding, reducing or eliminating the necessity of using Stewardship Fund dollars for the match, as is done currently. A state Forest Legacy Fund of $3 million would leverage $9 million in federal dollars.
Sources: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Wisconsin Forest Land Sales by Year; Wisconsin Council on Forestry; Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Gail Van Sluys/TNC (Wild Rivers Legacy Forest); Photo © U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (American marten).
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