The Wisconsin web map for Heterobasidion root disease, available through ArcGIS Online. / Map Credit: Paul Cigan, Wisconsin DNR
By Paul Cigan, DNR Forest Health Specialist, Hayward
Paul.Cigan@wisconsin.gov or 715-416-4920
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Forest Health program hosts two interactive web maps on its webpage:
By Art Kabelowsky, DNR Outreach and Communications, Fitchburg;
Arthur.Kabelowsky@wisconsin.gov or 608-335-0167
The main page of the TreeSnap app as seen on a mobile phone. / Photo Credit: TreeSnap.org
It takes more than a village to foster healthy forests. More than a township, a city and a county, too. Sometimes, even more than a state.
That’s why the Great Lakes Basin Forest Health Cooperative (GLB FHC) was formed four years ago by Holden Arboretum in Ohio and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
Geographically, the group’s region encompasses an area from New Jersey to Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is an active member.
Continue reading “Cooperative Enlists Public To Make Tree Health A Snap”
An example of single tree selection at work in a forest. Credit: Wisconsin DNR
Single tree selection is a natural regeneration system that was pioneered here in the Lake States. Used primarily in northern hardwood forests, single tree selection is a cutting method designed to regenerate and maintain uneven-aged stands. Single tree selection stands are maintained at each stand entry by establishing or releasing seedlings and saplings, tending trees to enable quality tree development and harvesting mature trees to create growing space for new age classes. To learn more about this regeneration method, check out the Generally Accepted Silvicultural Principles publication.
The following was adapted from a Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine article.
By Colleen Matula, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Forest Ecologist/Silviculturist and Patricia Alexandre, Former Forest Ecologist/Silviculturist
Wisconsin’s Forest Habitat Type Classification System (FHTCS) is an ecological classification tool developed in 1988 by John Kotar, a former scientist and instructor at UW-Madison. The FHTCS is based on repeatable patterns of forest understory plants present across similar sites.
Plant composition and growth are determined by site factors, including soils, topography, landform, hydrology and disturbance history. Together these factors represent the foundation of each unique habitat type.
Habitat typing helps foresters make decisions on the ground. This science-based tool can confidently predict how the forest will respond to different management treatments such as thinning, harvesting, and prescribed burning.
Each year in June, when understory plants are in bloom and easy to identify, new foresters from the Department of Natural Resources, county forests and other organizations receive two-day training on the habitat classification system. Continue reading “Seeing the Forest for More Than Just Trees”
Swamp White Oak seedling planted in a black ash replacement trial. Credit: Wisconsin DNR
The emerald ash borer (EAB) is causing widespread mortality of both upland and lowland ash. Black ash (and to a lesser extent green ash) is a forest wetland species that helps prevent sites from swamping through evapotranspiration. With the loss of ash in these systems, forest practitioners are developing silvicultural strategies to minimize the impacts through planting and seeding trials.
Some species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) in Wisconsin require a forested landscape diverse in structure, composition, function and complexity. Both young forests with particular habitat characteristics and old forests with more complex structures and species composition are necessary to meet the life cycle and habitat needs of SGCN species. This allows those species to grow and maintain their populations into the future. Continue reading “Using Forests to Protect Species of Greatest Conservation Need”
Wisconsin forests are incredibly diverse in species composition and structure, mainly due to glaciation that occurred until 11,500 years ago across much of the state. Glaciation in Wisconsin reached its maximum extent nearly 21,000 years ago.
To help guide management decisions and considerations, Wisconsin is divided into 16 ecological landscapes defined by the vegetation, climate, geology and hydrology in each ecological unit. Information about each ecological landscape is available on the DNR website in the landscapes topic.
Ecological Landscapes of Wisconsin. Credit: Wisconsin DNR
The Wisconsin Silviculture Trials Directory was created in 2002 for foresters to document silviculture trials and share results and experiences with their peers. It is a way of documenting non-research trials in applied forestry. A trial site often visited during training sessions is the Nebish Lake oak burn. Here a forester established an oak shelterwood in 2008, followed by a prescribed burn in 2011. The results showed that fire could set back competition while creating a favorable seedbed for oak regeneration.
Nebish Oak Shelterwood burn with comparison of the left side that was burned and right side that was not burned. Credit: Wisconsin DNR
Forest growth, removal and mortality are indicators of forest productivity. Each forest type in Wisconsin differs in productivity based on many factors such as silvics, demand for products and overall management. Recent data from the U.S. Forest Service shows that aspen, being a short-lived species, currently has the highest mortality rate of the top ten species while eastern white pine is increasing in growth and volume.
White pine regeneration under a managed old-growth white pine at Uhrenholdt Demonstration Forest. Credit: Wisconsin DNR
Forests play an important role in maintaining, protecting and enhancing soil and water quality. With the correct application of Best Management Practices for Water Quality, foresters can protect soil and water to ensure healthy forests and habitats.
Aerial photo of Little John lake near Boulder Junction with a protective riparian management zone. Credit: Wisconsin DNR
