| Subject: Contrary to all the false crap on the econut sites.... |
Author:
Oropan
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 15:18:05 12/05/06 Tue
Inventory finds 46 percent of Wisconsin land area covered by forests
MADISON – Wisconsin currently has 16 million acres of public and private forests, accounting for 46 percent of the state’s land area, according to a recently finalized inventory of the make-up, productivity and health of Wisconsin’s entire forest resource.
“These numbers, which have held steady since the last survey in 1996, indicate the state now has more forestland than at any time since the first forest inventory in 1936,” says Paul DeLong, Wisconsin’s chief forester and head of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry. In addition, he notes, the inventory found tree growth continues to outpace removals due to harvests.
This is just the sixth time in state history that federal and state foresters have completed a full census of both public and private forests, which is known as the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA).
“We’re gratified to see these latest data because they indicate the commitment to sustainable forestry, which provides environmental, economic and social benefits to us all,” DeLong says. “There are many challenges facing our forests, including invasive plants and pests, fragmentation and parcelization, development in fire-prone areas, recreational demands, challenges regenerating some species, and increasing globalization to name just a few.
“Given the importance of forests to our Wisconsin economy, environment and quality of life, it is imperative that we take stock of their condition and work collectively to ensure the ability of our forests to continue to provide an array of benefits for future generations.”
Because just 7 percent of Wisconsin’s forests are owned and managed by the DNR, DeLong says it is critical that other public and private landowners share the commitment to protect and sustainably manage their forests. In fact, the vast majority, nearly 70 percent, are under private ownership, mostly by individuals and families. Most of the timber harvested in Wisconsin also comes from these private forest lands.
The survey also reveals that Wisconsin’s forests continue to be dominated by hardwoods, with the maple/birch/beech, oak/hickory and aspen/birch forest types together making up approximately 70 percent of total forestlands. FIA data also show that state forests are increasing in average girth, with the acreage of the seedling-sapling size class having decreased, while acres of larger saw timber have increased.
Conducted jointly in Wisconsin by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the DNR Division of Forestry as part of a national program, the FIA is the state’s main source of scientifically credible information on forests statewide, including how much exists, how it is changing, who owns it, and how quickly trees are growing, dying and being harvested. The FIA program also monitors several indicators of forest health, including leaf damage from air pollution, tree crown density and vigor, plant diversity, and infestation by exotic, invasive species.
The data are used by DNR and Forest Service officials, private consulting foresters, environmental groups, the forest industry and others, to craft sound forest policy and management plans, conduct scientific studies, and assess the sustainability of past forestry practices among other activities.
Since the program began in 1930, Wisconsin’s forests have been entirely assessed six times. Data are collected in designated field plots distributed randomly across the state at a density of one plot for every 3,000 acres. Field measurements for the sixth survey began in 2000 and finished in 2004. The field work phase was then followed by nearly two years of intensive data analysis by Forest Service statisticians.
The forests in the Midwestern states were originally inventoried one state at a time on a rotating basis. In 2000—the same year Wisconsin’s latest inventory began—the FIA program switched from these periodic surveys to annual surveys. Now, 20 percent of the FIA field plots in Wisconsin are measured every year, with a full inventory taking five years to complete. Now that all of Wisconsin’s plots have been measured once under the new system, foresters will revisit them on a five-year rotation. For example, plots that were measured in 2000 were inventoried again in 2005.
More information about the Forest Inventory and Analysis and additional results from the most recent inventory is available on the DNR Web site.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 