The Town of Washington is developing a forest management plan known as a Stewardship Plan .
With approximately 1,200 acres of town-owned land, we have enlisted the help of the WDNR in developing a forest management plan for these lands.
Our local WDNR Vilas County Forestry Department will be leading the effort. Ryan Brown, WDNR Forester, will work with Jean Gillen, WDNR NR Regional Supervisor, to produce the plan.
Some of the benefits include:
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Providing an inventory of forest resources (e.g., forest cover types, approximate timber volumes, tree ages).
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Providing a schedule of forest management activities to follow to meet land management objectives.
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Once a Stewardship Plan is prepared and adopted by the Township, the Town can apply to become a Community Forest. Benefits of this program include free trees or seeds from the State Nursery and technical assistance from DNR Foresters to implement forest management practices and tree planting plans.
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Implementing practices within the plan can help the Town sustain its forest resource for future generations while generating periodic income. Managed forests are typically healthy forests.
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The Stewardship Plan will give us a good snapshot of our current land holdings and provide us with a basic framework of forest management practices.
There is NO COST for the development of this plan. We thank the WDNR for working with us to develop the plan!
Ryan and John reported that all town-owned parcels have been inventoried. The parcels were identified as eight specific compartments. No immediate needs were revealed. They will continue to develop the plan with more detailed compartment maps and management strategies.
We’ll keep you posted as the plan develops.