About 7,000 acres of land in northwest Wisconsin will be protected from development under a plan approved Wednesday by the state Natural Resources Board.
The board has approved borrowing $3.5 million through the state stewardship program for a property easement from a timber company in Douglas County. It’s part three of what’s called the Brule-St. Croix Forest Legacy Project, which aims to allow sustainable tree cutting on 73,000 acres of private land, but also maintain public activities like hunting and trail use.
Tom Duffus, of the Conservation Fund, said the Legacy Project brings together patches of property.
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“This project is significant in that it is sewing up essentially holes. It’s the holes of the Swiss cheese in a larger conservation landscape,” Duffus said.
Department of Natural Resources officials said they hope to slow down the building of homes and roads that disturb wildlife habitat. State forester Paul DeLong said preventing additional forest fragmentation makes sense.
“Maintaining large blocs of working forest land and the environmental, economic and social benefits they provide is truly outstanding,” Delong said.
DNR officials said it’s probably the final easement for the Brule-St. Croix Legacy Forest.
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