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2008 School Forest AWARDS Nominations OPEN NEW WI School Forest: Rudolph Environmental Center Plans Underway for New School Forest |
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School Forest Champions 2007 Teacher: Pat Hoffman School Administrator: Karen Dostal Resource Professional: Tom Quilty Community Member: Liz Roy |
Wisconsin School Forest History
Wisconsin has a long and proud school forest tradition. The school forest idea was borrowed from Australia by Dean Russell of the UW College of Agriculture. With assistance from Wakelin "Ranger Mac" McNeel, a state 4-H leader, and Fred Trenk, a UW-Extension Forester, Russel spearheaded community forest legislation efforts. The community forest law, which allowed schools and municipalities to own property for forest management purposes, was passed in 1927. The first school forests in the United States were registered the following year at Laona, Wabeno, and Crandon.
The school forest vision was to reclaim cut and burned-over forestland and to instill a conservation ethic in school children. Many of the school forests were tax-delinquent lands deeded to schools from the counties or donated by community members. These properties became the sites of aggressive reforestation efforts.
The program has grown considerably in the past 75 years. Today, nearly 200 school districts and private schools have registered approximately 350 school forests. As a partnership between the DNR - Division of Forestry and the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education in the College of Natural Resources at UW-Stevens Point, the statewide school forest program provides resources to help school forests achieve their full potential.
For a more detailed history, click HERE (PDF)