Wisconsin Forestry Song

“The Forest Is a Place Where We All Live” by Stuart Stotts

In Celebration of 100 years of Wisconsin Forestry

Lyrics:

Look down from an airplane, I’ll tell you what you’ll see.
From Madison to Menasha, Marinette to Menomonie
The great state of Wisconsin filled with trees.

The forest is a place for you and me
From the little bitty willow to the bur oak tree.
From the city to the country it will grow and give
The forest is the place where we all live.

It gives us boards and paper, it gives us shade and heat.
Makes oxygen for us to breathe and makes maple syrup sweet.
A place to climb and dream and swing our feet.

Home for hawks and badgers, home for deer and owls.
Hear woodpeckers tapping, and the black bear when it growls.
Listen as the distant wolf pack howls.

100 years before us, the pines had fallen fast.
Stumps decaying, wildfires raging through the piles of slash
We have learned some lessons from the past.

We’ll plant trees where we need them and manage them with care.
Let the woods reseed itself, as it does everywhere.
A greener world for everyone to share.

© Stuart Stotts 2004

Stuart Stotts has performed for children and adults throughout the Midwest (and often farther) since 1981. He gives over 250 concerts every year. He is the author of The Bookcase Ghost: A Storyteller’s Collection of Wisconsin Ghost Stories, and he has released several recordings. Stuart owns a piece of the 16 million acre forest resource in Wisconsin and wrote the song “The Forest is the Place Where We All Live” to commemorate the 2004 Year of Wisconsin Forestry and the Centennial of the state forestry program. He can be reached through his website at www.stuartstotts.com