The one-day short-course required to gain certification to grade under the Wisconsin Local Use Dimension Lumber Grading system will be offered for Wisconsin sawmill operators on Aug. 22, 2017 and Feb. 27, 2018.
Aug. 22, 2017 DNR Service Center in Green Bay, WI
Feb. 27, 2018 DNR Service Center in Rhinelander, WI
(Visit this page for directions to the DNR office locations.)
Continue reading “Local-Use Dimension Lumber Grading Workshops”
Menominee Tribal Enterprises (MTE) actively manages more than 219,000 acres of forested tribal lands, and operates a sawmill and lumber drying operation located in Neopit, Wisconsin. MTE installed a Biomass Combined Heat and Power District Energy project at the sawmill in the spring of 2016. The energy system provides heat for kilns, mill processing space (~150,000 sq ft,), and the office space. The project was implemented to replace aging boiler equipment, improve local air quality, reduce operating costs, and increase sales of mill residuals. Continue reading “Biomass Combined Heat and Power project in Neopit”
The following article is being reprinted by permission from the Forest Business Network.
IKD, a Boston-based architectural design firm, has been awarded $250,000.00 for a two-year United States Forest Service (USFS) Wood Innovations Grant to fund the development of Hardwood Cross Laminated Timber (Hardwood CLT) and the construction of the first Hardwood CLT project here in the United States. Read more here.
DNR’s Forest Products Services Program published articles and information about forest product utilization and marketing, wood processing and drying, innovative wood technologies, and program news in the Wisconsin Wood Marketing Bulletin for more than 30 years. Recently, this newsletter content was merged into the DNR Division of Forestry’s news feed and rebranded as “Forest Products News.” Wisconsin Wood Marketing Bulletin subscribers will continue to receive similar news and information, but this new format will improve the delivery and consistency of content for the Department’s news subscribers. Continue reading “New format for forest products news”
As part of the DNR Strategic Alignment, the Division of Forestry has consolidated the tax law programs (Managed Forest Law and Forest Crop Law) and associated work into fewer positions under a new Tax Law section. This section will focus on the tax law programs, allowing us to better meet our customers’ needs. Continue reading “New way of implementing tax law programs announced”
A severe storm on May 16, 2017 left a path of destruction through some woodlands in Barron and Rusk counties. (See DNR news release.)
If you are among the impacted landowners, the Division of Forestry invites you to visit this storm recovery page for advice and links to resources. Your local DNR forester is always a good starting point for assistance.
This blog post from the University of Minnesota titled “Dealing with storm-damaged trees and woods” may also be of interest.
Posted by Kirsten Held, DNR Forestry Outreach Specialist, Kirsten.Held@Wisconsin.gov
Wisconsin has already had more than 200 wildfires in 2017 since the snow-cover disappeared with the potential of more before vegetation greens up and the fire danger subsides.
More than 98 percent of all wildfires in Wisconsin are caused by people. The majority of these fires result from careless burning of debris on the ground in piles or burn barrels. Something as simple as getting a burning permit or being aware of the daily fire danger can prevent a wildfire.
Find out which counties have suspended burning permits and witness real-time fire activity by visiting dnr.wi.gov and enter keyword “fire.” To see the DNR fire control ‘gearing up for fire season,’ visit the DNR homepage and watch the short video of all the efforts it takes protect Wisconsin’s valuable resources.
Read more in this news release or contact Wildfire Prevention Specialist Catherine Koele (catherine.koele@wisconsin.gov), 715-356-5211 x208 (office), 608-219-9075 (cell).
DNR’s reforestation program is busy harvesting seedlings from our nursery fields and shipping them to woodland owners throughout the state. If you own forest land in Wisconsin and still need seedlings for planting this spring, contact Carey Skerven (carey.skerven@wisconsin.gov) as soon as possible or call the Wilson Nursery (608-375-4123) in Boscobel or the Griffith Nursery (715-424-3700) in Wisconsin Rapids. We will do our best to fill your orders. Here are the species still available as of April 3:
Conifers: Jack pine 1-0, red pine 2-0, white pine 2-0, tamarack 2-0, and white cedar 3-0.
Hardwoods: Aspen 1-0, river birch 2-0, butternut 1-0, black cherry 1-0 and 2-0, hackberry 1-0, bitternut hickory 2-0, shagbark hickory 3-0, hard maple 2-0, red maple 2-0, silver maple 1-0 and 2-0, red oak 2-0, and black walnut 1-0.
Shrubs: Chokecherry 1-0, ninebark 1-0, and American plum 1-0.
For more information, contact Jeremiah Auer at (715) 459-1999 or jeremiah.auer@wisconsin.gov
Happy International Day of Forests! Annually, March 21 is a day dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness of our forests. This year’s International Day of Forests theme is “forests and energy.”
In a video clip titled “The forest: nature’s powerhouse,” organizers of the 2017 celebration note, “Trees store the sun’s energy by turning it into wood which has always been the world’s most used source of renewable energy. New scientific advances using wood waste are opening it up to even more uses like liquid biofuels, making it a fuel of the future.”
Wisconsin has 17.1 million acres of forestland and there are currently more than fifty public and private facilities in the state that use some form of woody biomass for their energy needs. Continue reading “Forests are nature’s powerhouse”
The Division of Forestry annual report highlights a few of our accomplishments in 2016 – including implementing the Good Neighbor Authority, expanding the urban forest inventory and analysis to include all census-defined urban places, rewriting the forest fire reporting system, and more. Photos in the report showcase Division employees at work. In his report introduction, State Forester Fred Souba thanked former State Forester Paul DeLong (who departed at the end of September for a leadership position with American Forest Foundation) and Deputy Darrell Zastrow (who retired at the end of the year) for their legacy of leadership. Find the link to the 2016 report from the Forestry topic page on the DNR Website.
For more information, contact Forestry Outreach Specialist Kirsten Held (Kirsten.Held@Wisconsin.gov) at 608-264-6036.
