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Proposal to Protect Land for Public Use; State Negotiates Deal to Buy 18,512-Acre Easement From Timber Company

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

In one of the most important land transactions in Wisconsin history, Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday that officials have negotiated the protection of 18,512 acres for public use in Langlade County.

The northern Wisconsin property covers about 29 square miles.

Buying the easement from Plum Creek Timber Co. will protect the forest from development forever, officials said.

The parcel, about 20 miles northeast of Antigo, will provide a permanent route for a six-mile segment of the Ice Age Trail in the Town of Langlade.

It also surrounds a lake and borders a stream, river and the state's Wolf River fishery area for several miles, which state officials say will provide an important buffer from development for the prized Wolf.

State officials have negotiated an option for an easement that will cost $9.2 million.

The easement represents the sixth-largest transaction for public land in the state's history, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

Wisconsin officials applauded the deal with Plum Creek, a company with extensive land holdings and the state's largest private landowner.

Doyle said he favored the easement because the land will be logged in a sustainable manner and stay open for hunting, fishing and other recreation.

Plum Creek will retain ownership, but the company can't sell the land in the future.

The restriction is important because forest companies have been selling off more and more of the state's 1.1 million acres of industrial timberland, said Richard Steffes, the top real estate official with the DNR.

"You are seeing more and more fragmentation," he said.

For generations, Wisconsin's paper companies held vast acreage in the north. In exchange for favorable tax treatment, the public was allowed to use the land.

But between 1997 and 2002, about 1 million acres of forestland changed hands.

There is still plenty of timberland in Wisconsin. State officials estimate that forestland increased by 640,000 acres from 1983 to 1996, as marginal farmland converted to forests.

The breakup of forests into the hands of smaller owners has left loggers and forest products companies scratching at times for suitable land to log. At times in recent years, wood-products companies have had to import logs from outside the state.

In prepared comments, Doyle said, "With this purchase we are protecting jobs in Wisconsin."

"We are protecting the recreational access, vast forest vistas, habitat and ecology that make our state great," he said.

The easement must still be reviewed by the seven-member Natural Resources Board next week at its monthly meeting in Spooner. But Doyle's public support of the project is a clear signal to the board that the administration supports the deal.

In the first phase of the transaction, the U.S. Forest Service would pay $2 million of the easement cost. The agency could pay an additional $3 million if it agrees to additional funding requests from the state, the DNR said.

The rest of the money will come from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, which includes state funds that are used to buy land for public use.

The easement was purchased at $496 an acre, the DNR said. The land was valued at $1,125 an acre by independent appraisers, according to Steffes.

Locally, the parcel is known as the Crocker Hills. The 15-acre Tyra Lake is part of the property; four miles of Nine Mile Creek flow through it, and it includes a half-mile of frontage of the Lily River.

Paul DeLong, the state's chief forester, said large, unbroken blocks of forest are necessary to sustain a wide range of wildlife. The new easement will help Wisconsin's forest ecosystem, he said.

Ricardo Jomarron, president of the Madison-based Habitat Education Center, said he hoped that state officials would require loggers to leave stands of older trees and old stumps to attract wildlife that require such habitats.

"This can definitely be a win-win situation," he said.

Largest land deals

-- Gift from U.S. Department of Agriculture of 53,440 acres for the Black River Falls State Forest in Jackson County in 1955.

-- Purchase of 35,684 acres from Yawkey Bissell Lumber Co. in 1908 in northern Wisconsin.

-- Purchase of easement of 35,337 acres from Tomahawk Timberlands, a partnership, in Lincoln, Oneida, Marathon and Iron counties in 2002.

-- Purchase of 32,000 acres in Iron, Oneida, Vilas and Lincoln counties, called "The Great Addition" in 1999.

-- Purchase of land on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage of 22,345 acres in Iron County in 1990.

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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