Forest Service Plan Sparks Controversy in Wisconsin  
This article is a composite of three different stories that appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on November 17th and 18th, and December 3, 1999.

On Oct. 19, 1999, the national government published its plan to preserve some of our National Forests as �roadless� areas.  These areas would be restricted from logging operations and forest road building.  The plan intends to target forested areas that are already without roads or that have poor quality roads.  The plan also targets the critical areas for protecting animal habitat and water supplies. 

Paul Strong, a spokesman for the Forest Service in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, said that their local forest service agency was directed in October to add "protections" to all of the areas in the Nicolet and Chequamegon National Forests that did not currently have roads.  Of the 1.6 million acres that comprise the two Wisconsin forests, about 74,000 acres are in that category.  2.75% of the National Forest in Wisconsin is currently protected as wilderness areas that have no roads or buildings.  The Forest Service plan protects about 4.5% more of the National Forest land in Wisconsin from motorized vehicle access and operations such as logging.

�There are already 11,000 miles of roads through the National Forests in Wisconsin,� Strong said.  This plan would restrict the building of any new roads only in the protected areas, not in the rest of the forest.  Across the country, national forests have about 40 million acres designated as �roadless� areas.  �These lands for the most part had few developed areas or roads but had no restrictions on the use of them either,� said Strong. �In Wisconsin, some may have been logged before and had low maintenance roads built on them, that is an analysis we have to do.  I suspect there will be strong opinions voiced from a variety of standpoints on the Forest Service Plan," 

A Forest County official says he is fighting the U.S. Forest Service plan that could ban logging and road-building on about 74,000 acres in two national forests in Wisconsin.  Forest County Board Chairman Erhard Huettl joined a standing-room-only crowd at the first of two public hearings on this proposal Monday in Crandon. The second meeting was on Tuesday in Park Falls.

"I want to let the Forest County residents know what I intend to do as Forest County Board chairman to stop this plan from being rammed down our throats,  I also want to say that this is not a threat; it is a promise", said Huettl on Monday.  He has also appointed a three-member County Board committee to respond to the Forest Service plan.  At least a half-dozen semi rigs filled with logs sat in a high school parking lot where Monday's meeting was held. The crowd sent a clear message that access to National Forests should be kept for recreation and logging since these are two major sources of employment and revenue for the counties in northern Wisconsin.

The Forest Service said a plan was needed because of  strong public sentiment for protecting our current �roadless� areas.  Supporters say those tracts of land offer "clean water, biological diversity [and] wildlife habitat." They also promote "forest health, dispersed recreational opportunities, and other public benefits." 

The federal government feels that it can no longer afford expensive road-building and road maintenance in the forests. "The public has questioned the logic of building new roads into �roadless� areas when the Forest Service doesn�t even have the funding to maintain its existing road system. Indeed, the Forest Service has a growing $8.4 billion maintenance and reconstruction bill and receives only 20% of the annual funding it needs to maintain its existing 380,000-mile road system," said a representative for the Forest Service.  There are more miles of U.S. Forest Service roads than there are highways throughout the entire country.

The Forest Service issues contracts to log about 110 million board feet of lumber annually from the forests, he said. �The logging contracts are generally worth up to $8 million,� he said.  Opponents of the proposal say banning activities on the lands could harm some rural communities in Wisconsin that depend on access to the forest for the timber products industry and for recreational uses.

"If Washington D.C. takes away local control of our national forests, it will have tremendous effects on the future of the entire industry," said Nadine Bailey, president of the Timber Producers Association of Michigan and Wisconsin.  "This could mark the beginning of the destruction of logging in Wisconsin. I consider this to be the precursor to the type of forest closure that ruined the industry in the northwest region of the United States.� Bailey is urging all 1,300 members of her organization to write letters to the U.S. Forest Service voicing opposition to the plan, which has strong support among state environmental groups. 

Environmentalists have said more needs to be done to protect forest lands from destructive logging.  According to a Midwest representative for the Sierra Club (a national environmental group), the federal government will not take away the power local citizens exercise in deciding the future of the forests.  Rather, the government "wants to return the forests to the people" while regaining control from "the industry, which has pretty much destroyed the national forests," said Carl Zichella, regional spokesman for the group.  "This is the kind of hysteria we're going to hear from the industry," he said, adding that the Clinton plan "will have a minimal, if any, effect on the industry. Timber harvests from national forests account for no more than 10% to 11% of logs cut in the state.�

Carl Johnson, a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he witnessed the negative impact of logging when he worked in Vilas County at a camp run by the state Department of Natural Resources. Campers using the facilities at nearby Big Lake were angry to see the timber being harvested so close to a campground.  "What they liked about (their vacations) was the musky fishing and stuff like that," Johnson said. "National forests give people the same feelings. In a place where there are no vehicles, no roads - it's nothing you can describe on paper.

Home  |  Field Trips  |  Issues  |  Tree Key  |  Treevia  |  About Forestree