A new chapter emerging for Wisconsin forests

What Others Say 

A new chapter emerging for Wisconsin forests

  By Fred Clark

Half of Wisconsin is covered by forests, and thanks to strong public investment since the early 1900s, forests in Wisconsin have been a 100-year success story. 

Our forests provide the economic benefits from wood products, outdoor recreational opportunities and habitat for wildlife. They help keep our air and water clean.

The forest products industry supports about 125,000 jobs and adds $41 billion to our economy. Because of our well-managed forests, the forest sector is one of the top 10 employers in more than 25 counties throughout northern Wisconsin.    

Today, however, our forests and our forest industry are facing threats, as are the thousands of family supporting jobs we count on in our Northwoods communities. 

In February, news came that Ahlstrom was shuttering its Mosinee pulp mill, the latest in a string of closures. Since 2020 Wisconsin has lost at least six major pulp mills, largely due to declines in the pulp and paper sector. 

When these mills close, hundreds of good jobs are lost, which hurts our communities. But mill closures also hurt loggers, forest workers and landowners who sell their timber, potentially driving loggers out of business or forest owners to sell. 

These trends are already driving people away and changing the face of many of our Northwoods communities. 

We cannot afford to let that decline happen. Thankfully, we don’t have to.  

Wisconsin leaders must take action to maintain healthy, productive forests. We especially need to develop new products and new markets that use the small and lower value trees that have traditionally gone into making paper products. 

One new market can produce liquid fuels for aviation, diesel fuel and even gasoline produced from wood and wood products. This technology has been proven and now is in need of commercial development at scale. 

I was proud to support a bipartisan bill signed into law last week called the Forestry Revitalization Act. 

In short, it allows Synthec Fuels and Wisconsin-based Johnson Timber to invest in a new facility in Hayward to convert woody biomass into sustainable aviation fuel.

Wisconsin legislators and our governor need to continue to be open to economic development tools to spur commercialization of tested and feasible forest products technologies. 

And we also badly need more federal investments in forest economic development, especially for northwoods communities, along with continued research on forest health and better forest practices.  

Unfortunately, the president’s proposed 2027 budget makes large cuts to the U.S. Forest Service and USDA Rural Development programs that are vital to support our forest industry and forest-dependent communities. These cuts would move us in precisely the wrong direction. 

We can no longer assume that Wisconsin forests will continue to provide wood, food, water, air, recreation, cultural values and countless other benefits year after year to Wisconsinites without new commitments to our forests and related industry. 

It’s time for everyone who benefits from Wisconsin forests to be part of creating a new and more vibrant future for our forests.  

Fred Clark is a career forester who has served in the Wisconsin State Assembly, and has served on the Wisconsin Council on Forestry and the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board. He is currently a candidate for Congress in the 7th Congressional District.