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519 East Sheridan Street, PO Box 609 • Eagle River, Wisconsin 54521 • (715) 479-6456 

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A (b)log of Natural Resources Info

Landowner Help is Just a Call Away!

 

Are you new to owning land? Or maybe just new to wanting to manage your land? Do you wish you knew more about what land management was in general? There are so many resources available to you in the north woods! Below is the story of just one person and one property.

 

Nestled in the northeast corner of Wisconsin in Rusk County, lies 350 acres of diverse woodlands including mature forests adjacent to lowlands and a meandering creek. The Schlomann brothers received this property in early 2000 from their father who had purchased a portion of it in the 1980s. The brothers were able to increase the original acreage when they purchased the adjacent parcel in 2010.

 

Though the Schlomann family doesn’t live on the land, they do visit several times each month and primarily use it for deer and bird hunting. Historically there was no forest management plan in place. One of the brothers, Don Schlomann, realized that their forest needed more help after they performed some select cutting on the property.

 

Fortunately, Don became aware of assistance available to private landowners after receiving a mailing from the Wisconsin Young Forest Partnership (WYFP) out of Rhinelander, WIsconsin. “I knew the property had aged out of producing timber and wasn’t sure if we were doing the select cutting correctly,” said Don. “I needed help and wanted to get another prospective. Being able to partner with people to enhance my property was an exciting opportunity.”

 

After receiving Don’s eager response, WYFP coordinator Randee Smith reached out to him to develop the best path forward. During their conversation, Randee learned that Don had a logger scheduled for the following winter and was more interested in getting advice on what to harvest rather than on funding assistance. After coordinating a site visit from a forester, Randee was a step ahead addressing future concerns as she moved forward with obtaining cost-share funding for a management plan.

 

Through one of WYFP’s partners, the American Bird Conservancy, Don was awarded a grant to hire a certified plan writer to create a forest management plan for the property. Having this plan in place helped speed up the application process when he applied to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to fund a harvest on his mature aspen, perform alder shearing (to enhance young forest habitat), plant trees, and create a pollinator habitat.

 

As part of the NRCS EQUIP grant, the Schlomanns were able to purchase new equipment  that will allow them keep up with some of their forest management activities. Just one year after the alder shearing, Don noted a difference in the wildlife that he was seeing.  Most notably was the increase in grouse and woodcock, a species not seen before on the property. “I was surprised at how much the birds had responded. We can’t even take the dogs shed-hunting anymore as they all just get too birdy!”

 

Don credits his forester, Pete Anderson, for the success of his forest management plan. Using his relationship with program staff, Anderson made the process simple for Don from the start of the plan writing to the implementation of the harvest. “Pete Anderson did a really good job of creating edge; you can’t even tell 100 acres were cut! I can’t speak more highly about it all,” exclaimed Don. “I just wish I would’ve known about this program 10 years earlier!

 

The Schlomann family are excited to visit their property more this year and plan to continue some alder shearing and maintenance. Randee Smith is also pleased with the progress Don has made and recently suggested NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program as another means to get some financial incentives. Looks like NRCS hasn’t seen the last of Don Schlomann!

 

 

Landowner Resources: 

 

By Diane Gunderson, Creative & Marketing Director, Trees For Tomorrow and Randee Smith, WYFP