Resource Protection on Wisconsin State Forests

In managing Wisconsin's state forests, the Department of Natural Resources follows a holistic approach that protects all forest resources, including soils, water, native plants and animals, geological features, scenic beauty, recreational sites and commercially valuable tree species. To this end, the department has invested heavily both in inventories of the natural resources present on the state forests, and in plans to sustain them. These efforts are described in more detail below.

State Forest Master Planning

Each state forest has a "master plan," which outlines the property's goals, objectives, and management actions, as well as the most significant activities projected to take place on the forest during a 10 to 15 year period. When these plans expire, the forest develops a new master plan with input from all interested parties, including the public. For more information, visit our master planning pages.

Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory

As part of an international network, the Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) collects and manages data on the location and status of rare plants and animals, natural communities, and unique geological features in Wisconsin. This information, maintained by the DNR Bureau of Endangered Resources, is then used for purposes such as land management and conservation planning.

In cooperation with the DNR Division of Forestry, the NHI has conducted biotic inventories of Wisconsin's state forests since the early 1990s. This baseline ecological information helps property managers to develop master plans for the forests, and contributes to a larger group of assessments undertaken to prepare for state forest master planning.

Biotic inventories are now complete for three properties: the Brule River State Forest, the Northern Highlands American Legion (NH-AL) State Forest, and the Black River State Forest and surrounding areas. The master planning pages for the Brule River and NH-AL state forests include summaries of these inventories.

State Forest Ecological Communities

Surveys and inventories like the NHI show that the state forests encompass a variety of important ecological communities, including northern forest, southern forest, oak savanna, oak and pine barrens, grasslands, wetlands, and aquatic systems. One key objective of the state forests is to maintain the biological integrity of these communities over time through active management, such as controlled burning, watershed protection and sustainable harvest strategies.

Rare, Threatened and Endangered Species

The state forests are also havens for dozens of rare, threatened and endangered plants and animals. For example, the Brule River State Forest contains large populations of the Calypso orchid (fairy slipper) and Lapland buttercup, both Wisconsin "threatened" plant species, and sheathed sedge, a Wisconsin species of "special concern." In addition, at least two packs of gray wolf, a U.S. endangered species, frequent the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest, and the property contains one of the highest regional concentrations of bald eagle, a U.S. threatened species.

This wealth of rare species makes the state forests significant reservoirs of native biological diversity and their management plans reflect this. All contain specific strategies for conserving native plants and animals and the habitats in which they occur. For example, as a partner in the Habitat Conservation Plan for the endangered Karner blue butterfly, the Black River State Forest surveys proposed timber sales for butterflies and their habitat and makes adjustments to sale tracts based on its findings. It has also created and enhanced habitat for the butterfly. The Governor Knowles State Forest also participates in the Karner blue HCP.

Protection of Water

Many state forests were formed around watersheds in an effort to protect these fragile aquatic ecosystems. For example, the Brule River State Forest includes the entire 44-mile length of the Bois Brule River; the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest covers the headwaters of the Wisconsin, Manitowish, and Flambeau watersheds and contains more than 900 lakes; Governor Knowles State Forest acts as a resource protection zone for the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway; and the Flambeau River State Forest surrounds the Flambeau River.

Because the state forests are off limits to development, they will continue to provide relatively undisturbed shoreline habitat along lakes and rivers for plants, animals and people. Property managers also strive to minimize the effects of management activities, such as timber harvests, on the state forests' water resources by following best management practices for water quality developed by the DNR Division of Forestry.