Wisconsin’s forests are faced with a lot of challenges.
Invasive species, like emerald ash borer, are wiping out entire species of trees.
Over browsing by deer threatens forest productivity.
Extreme weather patterns fueled by climate change impacts growth of trees.
The closure of major pulp mills may lead to the selling off of forest land that isn’t seen as productive anymore.
Tom Hittle, chair of the Wisconsin Council on Forestry, says the council has been concerned about the challenges the state forest industry has been facing going back to about 2020 when the Verso Mill in Wisconsin Rapids closed.
“That was really kind of a coalescing event, I think, that brought a lot of folks together and really kind of raised the awareness of the importance of our industry and some of the stresses on our industry and what it meant all the way through the supply chain. To the loggers, to our landowners, to the forest managers, to our county forests, or our state public and private forests, and then the connection between the industry and healthy forests,” said Hittle.
Conversations among those in the forestry industry eventually led to the Wisconsin's Green Fire report “Wisconsin Forests at Risk: Engaging Wisconsinites in Another Century of Forest Conservation”, of which Hittle was a contributor.
Fred Clark is also one of the report contributors and one of the leads of the Wisconsin's Green Fire Forest and Public Lands Work Group.
He explained the closure of mills have direct and indirect impacts on forest health.
“When forest landowners have less ability to develop income from their forest lands, they're more likely to sell those lands,” said Clark. “That's creating stresses in forest ownership that is going to have a lot of impacts on conservation, on wildlife, on clean air and water, and all the other benefits forests provide.”
For as daunting as those challenges seem, Clark says Wisconsin can still be a leader in forest production, but changes need to be made.
The report outlines several ways including things like creating more diverse forests, supporting and expanding the forest products industry, and supporting forest landowners so the land remains forests.
A changing industry
The forest products industry contributed $38 billion in output in Wisconsin.
Changing markets, global competition, and increased costs are all affecting the industry.
Between 2012 and 2021, harvests dropped about 12% statewide, according to U.S. Forest Service data highlighted in the report. This wasn’t because of a lack of timber.
Hittle stresses Wisconsin is not alone.
“The whole forest products industry has been evolving for some time, obviously, and other states are facing it,” said Hittle. “Other states are moving forward with efforts to support, develop and diversify their forest products industries. I think, from the council's perspective, we would like to see Wisconsin engaged in that.”
He pointed out things like mass timber which is being used to build skyscrapers as a bright spot in the industry.
“We have some magnificent mass timber buildings here in the state. We're seeing some more go up. Unfortunately, a lot of that raw material in the wood and the timber that's going into those buildings isn't coming from Wisconsin, and, in fact, a lot of it isn't even coming from the U.S. We need to get ahead of the curve instead of kind of following the trend,” said Hittle.
The report encourages the state to support the forest products industry with things like investing in research, product development, and the workforce.
Clark said Michigan has been forward thinking in attracting forest product businesses like the Arauco mill in Grayling.
“In this case, it's not pulp and paper. It's a manufacturing business based on sort of OSB and fiber-based materials,” said Clark. “But that's actually been a real boon in that part of the state, and help maintain strong markets, and as a result, maintain management options.”
Sustaining forest land
Another part of preserving the forest health and the forest product industry is ensuring land remains forested.
The report calls for building and expanding on programs that incentivize forest owners to sustainably manage the land.
Clark says carbon offset markets can also help with this.
This is the practice of companies buying carbon credits as a way to compensate for the amount of greenhouse gas emissions they produce.
Wisconsin forests offset large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
“That's huge, and that's a whole backdrop about why this issue is more important than ever, because it isn't just boards and paper,” said Clark. “It's the environmental benefits that forests provide, so we need to keep those working.”
Clark says carbon credits are still an emerging space but believes that credible projects can provide a lot of benefits.
Hittle is confident there’s room for carbon markets and standard markets to coexist.
“If that additional revenue stream for our forestlands means that we can keep forests as forests longer and in better condition and more resilient, then I think that carbon markets can play a really important role in maintaining our healthy forests going forward,” said Hittle.
Maintaining healthy forests
Wisconsin is already losing species of trees because of pests and disease.
The report highlights the potential impact of the loss of ash trees. It’s estimated Wisconsin will lose a billion or about 7% of trees because of emerald ash borer.
“We did some work to estimate the economic value of that, which, even if you just look at it as sort of standing timber that a logger would buy, that's about $400 million, but that's not even the end of it,” said Clark. “If you multiply that by all the value added that those trees would go through to get to a final product, you're probably looking at a number four or five times that big.”
It’s why the report stresses pest management and promoting climate resilient forests as a large part of the equation to maintain healthy forests.
A call to action
“There's no silver bullet here. There's no one thing that's going to bolster up our industry or create additional demand for our forest products here and our raw fiber here in Wisconsin, just like there's no one huge stressor on our forests right now that we can identify and put all of our energy and efforts into,” said Hittle.
Both Hittle and Clark hopes this report sparks more conversations and more importantly, action.
“If community leaders and county economic development leaders and conservationists, who spend a lot of time thinking about clean water and wildlife, all start to realize that this is important for them and their communities, then this report will have done its job,” said Clark.
Hittle says the Council on Forestry has been advocating for the state to develop a strategic plan and roadmap for the industry to tackle these challenges.
“We all agree on healthy forests. It's just getting the word across to what healthy forests mean, what their values are, and what we need to do to assure that we have healthy forests going forward,” said Hittle.
