Two forestry pesticides now have an Environmental and Social Risk Assessment (ESRA) available on the MFL Certified Group Pesticide Page courtesy of our colleagues at the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Tebufenozide is an insecticide that can be used to control spongy moth. Aminocyclopyrachlor is an herbicide used to control broadleaf plants.
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BMPs and MFL
Whether or not you are in the Managed Forest Law (MFL) Certified Group, we recommend adhering to all applicable Forestry Best Management Practices for Water Quality (BMPs) to protect the soil and water resources on your property. During forest management, there are measures we can take to minimize rutting, soil compaction and erosion and protect the value of any water features on the site. Familiarizing yourself with the water features on your property from the BMP perspective will help you ensure that when it comes time to harvest timber or put in a road, you take the necessary measures to protect what is important to you.
As described in Wisconsin’s BMP Field Manual, BMPs are a set of guidelines “intended to provide simple and cost-effective methods for protecting water quality in lakes, streams and wetlands… before, during and after forest management activities”. BMPs are designed to protect water quality, water temperature, nutrient balances, habitat diversity and hydrologic processes.
Got Oak? Need Funding?
The American Bird Conservancy has teamed up with U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to provide additional funding to help manage oak woods in Southeast Wisconsin. This Regional Conservation Partnership Program is designed to enhance oak ecosystem health while cultivating long-term benefits for Species of Greatest Conservation Need, such as the red-headed woodpecker and cerulean warbler, both commonly found in high-quality oak systems.
Roger Pluedeman: A Longtime Logger With Long-Term Planning
By Art Kabelowsky, DNR Outreach and Communications, Fitchburg
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov
For 48 years and counting, Roger Pluedeman has been a logger.
Photo Credit: Roger Pluedeman
And much more.
After starting his career in Rhinelander in 1977, Pluedeman moved to the Eagle River area in 1979 and established Pluedeman Logging. He has owned and operated that business ever since.
The basic roles of a logger have become second nature to Pluedeman: Forge contracts with landowners, make detailed plans, cut down trees and turn them into logs and remove the logs for transport to their destination.
But Pluedeman also excels at the people side of logging: Developing and growing long-term relationships, both with landowners and with the land itself.
“He’s not a ‘look what I did’ guy. He’s known as a guy who gets the work done and helps where he can,” said Henry Schienebeck of the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, who has known Pluedeman for decades.
“Roger’s work includes a lot of long-term relationships, and that goes to show that whomever he’s working with, he’s treating them fairly.”
Continue reading “Roger Pluedeman: A Longtime Logger With Long-Term Planning”
Julie Church Joins the Tax Law Section
Photo Credit: Julie Church
Julie Church has joined the Tax Law Section as our Tax Law Operations Specialist. Julie oversees the Certified Plan Writer (CPW) program, assists with tax law policy and program management and helps manage the Wisconsin Forest Inventory and Reporting System (WisFIRS). She serves as a key liaison for various stakeholders, including Cooperating Foresters and CPWs. She started her new role in November 2024, and is stationed in Rhinelander at the Forestry Headquarters. Continue reading “Julie Church Joins the Tax Law Section”
2025 New MFL Enrollments
New Managed Forest Law (MFL) enrollments become active at the start of the year to align with the new property tax year. There are 1,370 new enrollments for 2025! Some statistics for the new enrollments include:
Photo Credit: Linda Williams, Wisconsin DNR
- Nearly one-third are new landowners in the MFL program, similar to recent years’ enrollments.
- A total of 88,105 acres were added to the MFL program.
- 1,352 enrollments are individual landowners, and 18 added land to large ownerships with at least 1,000 acres statewide.
- The average size of the new enrollments is 61 acres for individual landowners and 302 acres for large ownerships.
- 10,356 acres are open to the public for hunting, fishing, hiking, sight-seeing and cross-country skiing.
- 43% (4,453 acres) of the open MFL acreage is part of a large ownerships.
- 71% of eligible new enrollments elected to participate in the MFL Certified Group.
- The total number of 2025 enrollments amounts to less than the 1,452 enrollments that expired at the end of 2024, but the total new acreage enrolled in MFL in 2025 is almost 15,000 acres more than the total of the acreage that expired.
Forest Products Grants Announced
During National Forest Products Week, the USDA Forest Service announced it is making nearly $34 million in funding available through its Wood Innovations, Community Wood and Wood Products Infrastructure Assistance grant programs. The Forest Service is seeking proposals that support crucial links between resilient, healthy forests, strong rural economies and jobs in the forestry sector. Funding for these programs is intended to spark innovation, create new markets for wood products and renewable wood energy and expand processing capacity. You can read the full news release on the Forest Service’s website.
Larry Krueger Shares Insights From Forest Products Industry Career
Photo credit: Larry Krueger.
The people who make Wisconsin’s forest products industry function are vast and varied. It’s estimated that more than 123,000 jobs in the state are tied to the forest industry. From the foresters and woodland owners caring for the forest to the loggers and truckers getting the logs from the forest to the sawmills and pulp mills throughout the state to the workers creating finished wood and paper products, it takes a wealth of passionate people to produce the many forest products you depend on every day.
Larry Krueger, a co-owner and sawmill manager of Krueger Lumber, is one of those working in the heart of Wisconsin’s forest products industry – fitting, as Krueger said he was born into it.
“My father Herb Krueger started Krueger Lumber in 1969,” Krueger continued. “The more you see the beautiful, natural products from our forest, the more you grow to love and appreciate its beauty.”
In his role, Krueger wears many hats. His day at the mill begins at 6:15 a.m. with a hard hat as he tours the sawmill to ensure smooth operations.
“I speak to various workers at different production points, checking for any problems and to see what’s new. I walk from the sawmill to the dry kilns and warehouses. I stop at the different lumber grading areas, speaking to the graders about any questions or issues they are seeing in the kiln-dried lumber being re-graded for quality,” he said.
Selling kiln-dried lumber is one of Krueger’s top priorities; after ensuring everything is running smoothly, he trades in his hard hat for a sales pitch.
“Throughout the rest of the day, I speak with and email regular and potential customers,” Krueger said. Continue reading “Larry Krueger Shares Insights From Forest Products Industry Career”
How Wisconsin’s Forests And Climate Initiatives Are Shaping A Sustainable Future
Wood stores carbon throughout its life. Photo credit: DNR
Wisconsin’s forests and forest products have a dual role in climate change. They are impacted by climate change, but also help mitigate its effects by storing carbon in wood products from sustainably harvested forests.
Sustainably managed forests in Wisconsin provide essential raw materials for more than 1,200 wood product companies and 280 logging businesses. Annual forest growth in the state significantly exceeds the volume harvested. In 2013, Wisconsin’s primary wood-using mills received 307 million cubic feet of industrial roundwood, while net growth reached 576 million cubic feet — an impressive 18 cubic feet of wood growing every second – and enough to fill Camp Randall Stadium roughly 108 times over.
When sustainably harvested wood is used in long-lived products such as lumber, furniture, windows and doors, it stores carbon throughout its life, only releasing it back into the atmosphere when it decays. Compared to concrete and steel, wood is gaining popularity as a building material due to its carbon-storing capacity – about half of dry wood is carbon – and its renewability. Additionally, it requires a less energy-intensive manufacturing process.
Continue reading “How Wisconsin’s Forests And Climate Initiatives Are Shaping A Sustainable Future”
The Economic Powerhouse Of Wisconsin’s Forest Products Industry
Wisconsin exported around $1.3 billion worth of forest products in 2022. Photo credit: DNR
The economic impact of Wisconsin’s forests cannot be understated.
The annual value of products from Wisconsin’s forest industry is over $24 billion, representing 2.3% of the state’s gross domestic product. Forest industries in Wisconsin employ around 58,000 individuals.
The economic influence of Wisconsin’s forest products industry extends to other sectors through inter-industry transactions and household spending. The forest products industry contributed an additional 66,000 jobs and $13.1 billion in output, bringing the total to over 123,000 jobs and $38 billion in production tied to the forest products sector. To help contextualize the scale of that impact, consider this: For every ten jobs in the forest products industry, 11 jobs were created in other areas of the economy.
Continue reading “The Economic Powerhouse Of Wisconsin’s Forest Products Industry”