| Social & Cultural
Benefits of Planning |
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Gathering of non-timber special
forest products is a valued forest use, particularly in Native
American traditions. Wisconsin forests provide abundant special
forest products including: |
hazelnuts |
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plants for medicinal and decorative uses such as Slippery elm, birch bark, pine boughs, mosses, and vines, |
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edible materials such as morels and
other mushrooms, berries, maple syrup, and |
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special wood products for baskets, furniture, carvings, bowls, firewood, musical instruments, walking sticks, pine cones, maple syrup, bird and bat houses, crafts etc. |
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Wisconsin's special non-timber
forest product: Maple
syrup |
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Maple
syruping is both a family tradition and a
source of income
in Wisconsin. Commercial syrup producers in Wisconsin made 79,000
gallons of maple syrup in 2003.
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Families across Wisconsin made countless more gallons for their
personal use. |
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| Some find solace in the peacefulness
and fresh pine smell of the woods. Others are comforted just to know
that these forests exist and that they could visit them if they ever
want to. |
| Wisconsin forests also hold historical
value; burial sites, archaeological sites and more |
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Forests provide many recreational opportunities that often become deep
traditions for residents and visitors alike. These include hunting,
fishing, camping, backpacking, cross country skiing, all-terrain-vehicle use,
snowmobiling, hiking, biking, snowshoeing, canoeing wild rivers, wildlife viewing, and more.
Although it is difficult to measure how much forests are valued for
these activities,
expenditures related to recreation
are one indicator. |
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being least
important and 10 being most important, Wisconsinites rank the
importance of conservation of natural resources and recreation a 9.2
The trend of
people increasingly moving to the urban-wildland interface
illustrates the desirability of living in a forested environment.
Yet urban forests also create livable communities and neighborhoods. |
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