Council Initiatives

Council Task Groups

At their December 2003 meeting, the Council identified these key issue areas on which to concentratetheir immediate efforts: invasive species as an increasing threat, fragmentation and parcelization of the forest; the need for more private forestry assistance, encouraging the use of woody biomass to produce energy and forest certification.

The Council formed these five task groups to address the issues:

• Invasive Exotic Species - Fred Clark
• Fragmentation and Parcelization - Mary Jean Huston
• Private Forestry Assistance - Bob Rogers
• Use of Woody Biomass - Bill Horvath with assistance from Bill Ward
• Certification - Paul DeLong with his DNR staff (group in place)

Governor's Conference on Forestry

In November 2004 the Council on Forestry sponsored the Governor's Conference on Forestry which brought together a diverse group of partners to begin developing action plans for the issues identified in the 2004 Statewide Forest Plan.

The conference focused on seven themes identified in the plan. Each theme had a Champion and a Leadership Team whose members represented diverse forest interests. The theme Champions reported the key conference outcomes to the Wisconsin Council on Forestry at their December 2004 meeting.

Other initiatives

A Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker's Task Force on Forestry was established by Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) in October 2003. The task force, led by Representative Donald Friske (R-Merrill), analyzed timberlands around the state, making an assessment on forest inventory and its risks to fire, disease and exotic species. Their report was released in March 2004 to the Wisconsin State Legislature.