Oneida county's Forestry Department has again set a record for timber stumpage which means more revenue for county coffers.
During an annual report this week to the Board of Supervisors, Forest Director John Bilogan said the department added more than 16 miles of recreational trails, including 3.5 miles of state funded snowmobile trails, nearly two miles of ATV-UTV trails, a mile of cross country ski trails, and 2 miles of mountain bike trails and 8 miles of fat tire bike trail....
"....we added some new snowmobile and ATV trail miles, constructed a new bridge and we're halfway through the asphalt project at Almon Park, which was a big one...."
Almon Park is just south of Rhinelander adjacent to the popular swimming spot at Buck Lake. The county topped $1.7 million dollars in stumpage revenue. It was the seventh consecutive year that more than a million dollars in stumpage revenue was achieved by the county. When asked about an invasive species, Bilogan said he didn't think the Emerald Ash Borer would have a major overall impact on county forests. Bilogan says only a small percentage of Oneida county forests have ash trees...
".....we're fortunate in the county forest, and Oneida county in general, only a very small component of our county forest, around one percent, of the trees species is ash. So even at it's worst case scenario the impact would be slight....."
Emerald Ash Borer was discovered in a trap in Rhinelander in the fall of 2014. The county joined more than half of other state counties quarantined after the invasive insect's discovery.
