Inventory

New Wauwatosa Forestry Dashboard Educates Residents About Area’s Urban Forest

Posted on by patricialindquist

By Alex Krutsch, Supervisor of Forestry and Grounds, City of Wauwatosa

Over the past few years, the Wauwatosa Forestry Department has been working with the City’s geographic information system (GIS) manager to inventory City trees into a GIS database.

The results have been transformational for the forestry department allowing staff to update tree inventory and manage department work functions such as tree removal, pruning and planting from the field in real-time via any mobile device with an internet connection.

Continue reading “New Wauwatosa Forestry Dashboard Educates Residents About Area’s Urban Forest” →

Annual forest resource reports

Posted on by Kirsten Held

By Brian Anderson, forest inventory analyst, Rhinelander, 715-499-3291

Every year, the forest inventory data from the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program is assessed to track trends in Wisconsin’s forest resources. This information is summarized in several reports. The Wisconsin’s Forest Resources report gives a broad overview of the current state of —and trends in — Wisconsin’s forests over time, including easy-to-read figures and tables. Furthermore, it provides links to other more detailed tables, including acreages of forest types and timberland by attributes such as county, stand-size class, and ownership.

In addition to the resources report, all major species in the state are summarized. The summaries include key trends, including changes in volume, and tree numbers by size and diameter class. The summaries provide details on where specific species grow, by both state region and habitat-type group. Managers and industry personnel will also find pertinent information, such as net growth, mortality, and harvest removals over time. Finally, key health issues are summarized for a given species and projections are given for growing-stock volume over the next 40 years.

Check out the statewide summary, species reports, and other specific data tables in our Annual Reports and Publications hub.

i-Tree Academy online training begins January

Posted on by patricialindquist

The US Forest Service and several key partners are offering an on-line training program called the i-Tree Academy, designed to introduce i-Tree tools to a class of 35 participants. The Academy instruction will be delivered by experienced members of the i-Tree project team, focused on helping users utilize the i-Tree software suite of tools which can be used to inventory, assess and report on the value of urban forests and greenspace.

The course will be approximately 4 months in length and includes bi-monthly online web sessions, self-paced learning modules, assignments, and completion of a student project. Students will be able to focus on a specific urban forestry issue of interest to them. The required two-hour web sessions will occur twice each month, 12:00 to 2:00 Eastern time.

The course begins on January 22, 2020, and registration must be completed by January 3rd. To learn more and to register for the course, visit the Urban Natural Resources Institute website.

Arbor Day Foundation now accepting Tree City USA applications!

Posted on by margueriterapp

Wisconsin may be best known for our cheese, lakes and beer, but did you know that we are second in the country for number of Tree City USA communities?! Last year 195 Wisconsin communities achieved Tree City USA status, and those communities are home to nearly 60% of Wisconsinites. Wouldn’t it be something if we were number one in the country this year?! Well, here’s our chance – the application period for Arbor Day Foundation’s (ADF) recognition programs, including Tree City USA and Tree Campus USA, is now open!  Continue reading “Arbor Day Foundation now accepting Tree City USA applications!” →

Soliciting teachers and students for school tree inventories

Posted on by margueriterapp

There is a small sign in the Milwaukee DNR office that instructs the reader to “Learn of a pine tree from a pine tree.” In other words, to better understand something, one has to see it, feel it, smell it, rather than just reading about it. In urban forestry, this manifests itself in tree inventories, or surveys of individual trees in a given area. Municipalities have recognized the importance of these tree inventories for years, and now, led by a few pioneering teachers, so have some schools. Continue reading “Soliciting teachers and students for school tree inventories” →

Urban tree identification tool available

Posted on by Ellen Clark

By Dan Buckler, Urban Forestry Assessment Specialist

Many guides help you distinguish between a black and a northern red oak, or between a beech and a musclewood. But for many people just trying to identify a tree outside their door, these guides might not be appropriate. Some include too many trees from out-of-state, some focus on trees only found in rural areas, and some others are weighed down by detail.  Continue reading “Urban tree identification tool available” →

Value-added Wood Manufacturing Industry Survey Results

Posted on by Kirsten Held

By Scott Lyon, Forest Products Specialist

The value-added wood manufacturing industry (or secondary wood manufacturing industry) includes companies that use primary wood products such as lumber or veneer to produce higher value products, such as flooring, cabinets, millwork, furniture, sporting goods, doors, windows, roof trusses, wall panels, and other building materials. The industry includes more than 800 facilities, employs more than 20,000 workers, and generates a direct economic impact $3 billion in Wisconsin (WI DWD 2019; IMPLAN DATA 2017).

Continue reading “Value-added Wood Manufacturing Industry Survey Results” →

Timber Product Output Project

Posted on by Kirsten Held

By Alex Anderson, Forest Products Specialist

In April 2019, the Forest Products Services program mailed surveys to the majority of primary wood-using firms in Wisconsin. Historically, this survey was colloquially termed the “drain survey,” but it is now generally referred to as the Timber Product Output (TPO) survey. The survey captures information on Wisconsin’s forest products industries, including the total number of firms and employees in the sector, roundwood consumption, and the utilization of residues. Data collected during the survey remains completely confidential and is compiled only at the county and state levels.

The TPO survey is conducted for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the data allows for a direct comparison to previous years’ surveys, which grants us an opportunity to analyze the forest products industry’s performance over time. Additionally, the survey data paints a vivid picture of just how valuable the forest products industry is to the overall well-being of Wisconsin’s economy, including its central role in driving sustainable forest management in the state. The TPO results are also utilized in conjunction with Forest Inventory Analysis data to assist firms in making informed business decisions, such as forecasting resource availability or evaluating procurement strategies.

We hope to have the data compiled by end of 2019. Once the data is available, we will publicize it here.

Tree inventory on Western Technical College campus

Posted on by Ellen Clark

Inventorying trees can be a tedious process, though it is an important one. You look up at individual trees, but then you look back on a forest.

Tree inventories are foundational parts of any urban forest program. That was the underlying message of the recent visit of DNR staff to Western Technical College in La Crosse where, at the invitation of landscape horticulture instructor David Lein, the DNR provided an introduction to tree inventories. Continue reading “Tree inventory on Western Technical College campus” →