As I gaze out our patio door this late-April morning, I can see clearly that Otter Run is awakening from its winter slumber. The ice went out two weeks ago; the lake is placid and peaceful today. The reflection of the trees on the water shows they are leafing out. Unfortunately, that means Jon is sneezing and wheezing as his allergies are kicking in big time. I’m blessed that I’m not prone to this affliction. It’s a beautiful day, so I’ll grab a rake and do the front lawn while promising the flower beds to tend them soon.
Along with crunchy leaves and dead grass, I rake up a lot of twigs that fell during the ice storm and were spread out across our property by recent high winds. There are also larger sticks from yesterday when Jon took an antihistamine and got his chainsaw. Together we removed a large popple that had broken off and one of my apple trees, which was collateral damage. Jon just turned 85, and I’m not exactly a spring chicken. Some might say the scene was straight out of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” but we got the job done.
When we finished, I walked our half-mile road to fetch the mail, picking up more sticks and looking for damaged trees that might need removal. I hate cutting down trees, but I am mindful of the message in a book by Ethan Tapper I read over winter: “How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World.”
Like Dr. Suess in “The Lorax,” Tapper speaks for the trees, but his warning is that climate change and current forestry practices are seriously endangering the Northwoods. He maintains that healthy forests have biological diversity, species diversity, trees of different ages and remnants of “old growth.” This provides trees with a natural resistance to pests, disturbances and, to some degree, climate change.
Musing about that led me to reread an essay by Phil Anderson when I got home. Phil, a friend who lives in Maple, is a tree-lover like me. In his piece, he cites Forests at Risk, a recent report by Wisconsin Green Fire. A nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, WGF’s goal is to “educate the public and to attempt to affect policy decisions with sound scientific analysis.”
Forests at Risk issues a Code Red Alert about the declining health of our woodlands: “Wisconsin’s forests have long enriched our state’s economy and quality of life. Yet, just when we need healthy, diverse and productive forests more than ever, our forests are facing serious threats.”
Phil wrote that it should be self-evident that public policy be based on the best available information: science, facts, historical experience. “Anything less can only lead to bad decisions and bad results. During the Walker administration, the legislature arbitrarily mandated 75% of state forests be managed for logging. This decision was not based on any scientific analysis or considerations for the health of our public forests. Unfortunately, this bad policy is still guiding state (and national) forest management today.”
Really? Case in point. When Jon and I bought Otter Run in 1993, the woods had not been cut since the Big Pine Era. It needed serious attention, but I was skeptical. Like a lot of people, I thought cutting a tree was sinful. Jon disagreed. He said that just like my garden, forests need cultivating. By 1996, it was obvious we had to do something. We consulted Dave Christianson, a local logger who told us a cut was long overdue and would be good for the woods. When Dave assured us that they would do a select cutting and not high grade (only take the best trees), I decided to trust his judgment.
We were still living in Appleton then, and I vividly recall the day we came up north to see the results. When I saw the bleeding stumps of birch and popple trees, the piles of branches and the logging trails cut into the woods, I made Jon stop the truck. I got out, went down on my knees and tearfully begged the forest to forgive me. Jon didn’t laugh at me, just insisted I would come in time to realize it was the appropriate thing to do. He and Dave were right.
As a result, we enrolled 40 acres of our property in the Managed Forest Law program. We get a property tax break as long as we adhere to a licensed forester’s plan, which stipulates we cannot make improvements or cut without DNR approval. Dutifully following that plan, we’ve had prescribed cuttings in 2013 and 2020.
The outcome is a healthy forest that withstood the devastating July 19, 2019, derecho and several ice storms that did substantial damage to unmanaged properties. Proof positive. Along the way, I learned an important lesson: Defer to the experts because I know how to do my thing; they know how to do theirs.
Kathleen Marsh is a lifelong educator, writer and community advocate. She has published eight books, four on the history of Townsend, where she and husband Jon are happily retired on the beautiful Townsend Flowage.
Let the experts determine forest health
