Lawmakers Want More Local Control Over Tree Harvests

Two state lawmakers: one from Wisconsin, the other from Michigan, want counties to take control of forest management.They are proposing a pilot project and say local officials are better equipped to control tree harvests than the federal government.

Tom Tiffany says there are too many rotting trees in national forests.He’s a state representative from Hazelhurst in North Central Wisconsin. “We have trees literally going to waste now on our national forest land,” he says.

Tiffany and a lawmaker from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are calling on the U-S Forest Service to allow a ten year project, giving control of tree harvesting to county agencies.Then they’ll compare results with the record of federal agencies. “Let’s turn that management back to the county,” he says.”And, in particular, when you get to Northern Wisconsin the counties manage millions of acres of forest land and they do it really well.”

In Wisconsin, the proposal would affect the Chequamegon national forest.

Tiffany says counties can contract with private timber businesses to cut down trees.He thinks it would lead to better wildlife habitat for deer and certain birds.Tiffany also says the project would create jobs and keep families from moving away.

“There’s businesses here, forest products businesses in Northern Wisconsin that now import up to half their wood from Canada,” he says.

Tiffany says the hardwood harvest in Great Lakes states has dropped 90-percent since 1988.The pilot project faces many roadblocks, Tiffany says the Chief of the U-S Forest Service has not been receptive to the idea of local control in the past.