Wisconsin Forests at Risk
“I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. Dr. Seuss in the children’s book “The Lorax”
Wisconsin Green Fire recently published a report that speaks for trees and all the other organisms in Wisconsin’s forests. “Wisconsin Forests at Risk: Engaging Wisconsinites in Another Century of Forest Conservation” is a warning about the declining health of forests across the state. They say, “Wisconsin’s forests have long enriched our state’s economy and quality of life. Yet, just when we need healthy, diverse, and productive forests more than ever, our forests are facing serious threats.” The report discusses the threats and offers solutions to improve the management of both public and private forests.
Wisconsin Green Fire (https://wigreenfire.org) promotes science-based management of Wisconsin’s natural resources. This non-partisan, non-profit organization consists of volunteer scientists and other professionals with “extensive experience in natural resource management, environmental law and policy, scientific research, and education.” Their goal is to “educate the public and to attempt to affect public policy decisions” with sound scientific analysis.
It should be self-evident that public policy should be based on the best available information, science, facts, and historical experience. Anything less can only lead to bad decisions and bad results.
During the Walker administration the Republican controlled legislature arbitrarily mandated that 75% of state forests be managed for logging. This decision was not based on any scientific analysis or considerations for the health of our public forests. It was is a purely political decision. Unfortunately, this bad policy is still guiding state forest management today.
Driving around northern Wisconsin shows many cut over areas. Despite the claims that loggers use “selective cut” and “sustainable” forestry practices, these cut over places are largely denuded. They are industrial wastelands. Our county, state and national forests, with a few small exceptions, are tree farms not forests. Healthy forests have biological diversity, species diversity, trees of different ages, remnants of “old growth” and, as a result, natural resistance to pests, disturbances and to some degree climate change.
The Green Fire report says, “Forest productivity, along with the broad range of conservation values and benefits that forests provide, is declining in many areas across Wisconsin. This change is a result of a variety of stress factors…”
Emerald ash borer is one of the major threats. This insect is an invasive, wood-boring beetle that kills ash trees by eating the tissues under the bark. I have recently found a number of dead ash trees in my woods. First detected in 2002 in the U.S and 2008 in Wisconsin, the ash borer is native to northeastern Asia. It is thought this destructive pest was introduced from China because of wooden shipping crates. The emerald ash borer is now in all 72 Wisconsin counties and the DNR expects 99% of our ash trees to be killed.
The DNR is also worried about the hemlock woolly adelgid. This invasive insect (again from China) feeds by sucking sap from hemlock and spruce trees. This can have severe impacts on mature trees and only chemical treatment is effective in preventing tree mortality. This pest has extensively reduced eastern hemlock in eastern states. The insect is established in northern Lower Michigan less than 65 miles across Lake Michigan from Wisconsin.
Hemlock is a key species in old growth forests in Wisconsin. Old growth is found in only 0.3% of Wisconsin’s forests in widely scattered small remnants. It is all that is left of what existed before Paul Bunyan and his minions destroyed Northern Wisconsin in the “Great Cutover” (roughly 1860 to 1910).
Northern Wisconsin is also suffering from an invasion of the spruce budworm that defoliates spruce and balsam firs. Many spruce and balsam are dying prematurely on my property.
Invasive plants are creating problems for the forest understory. There are many invasive herbaceous plants and shrubs such as garlic mustard, buckthorn, ornamental honeysuckle, and Asiatic bittersweet that are established or becoming established throughout Wisconsin forests. These impact the regeneration of native tree and plant species.
The unnaturally large deer population is another issue where political interference has overridden scientific management. Excessive deer browsing in many areas is reducing tree species diversity, tree regeneration, and native understory plant abundance. Wisconsin Green Fire says, “Numerous studies have concluded that deer browse over more than 40 years has significantly depressed tree sapling recruitment and native species diversity.” They say a new approach to deer management is needed that considers deer densities and the impact of deer browsing on forests.
Climate change, and the impacts of extreme weather events, are obviously a threat. Increasing temperatures are changing the species composition of our forests, especially in northern Wisconsin. Warmer winter temperatures also This also contribute to the survival and spread of insect pests and diseases.
The report also has a historical perspective. Following the devastation left behind from the Great Cutover, there was strong, bipartisan support for restoring Wisconsin’s forests and establishing science-based management. As a result, Wisconsin became a national leader in forest conservation. In the past state leaders invested money and resources in research and innovative efforts to restore the damage. Now, after years of budget cuts and political interference, similar action is needed. The report says, “Now, our forests face a new set of profound threats. It is time, again, for policymakers, community leaders, and forest stakeholders…to take concerted action and address these new challenges.”
The reports advocates to:
- Prepare for the impacts of pests with investments in research, monitoring, coordination across borders, and efforts to make forests more diverse and resilient.
- Invest in research and financial support for effective forest stewardship practices.
- Provide adequate financial support for invasive species control.
- Strongly integrate wildlife management and forest management to deal with deer browsing problems.
- Promote more species-rich, complex, diverse multiple age forest landscapes while sustaining and enhancing old-growth characteristics in state managed forests.
We can do better. But forest management must be guided by good science and not political grandstanding. We also need adequate public financial investments and regulation.
Most of all we need a change in attitude. As Aldo Leopold said, “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”