Coordinated Management of Private Lands

Lawrence Partridge

I guess if I were to rail towards any cause related to my field of study, it would have to be for the incorporation of multiple forest management plans into an over-arching, ecosystem-based plan that would promote both the quality of forest stands, as well as wildlife habitat.  In my experience, having witnessed the management, over time, of large stands of timber up in the Hayward, WI area, I often see that properties within more “populated” areas (primarily 20-100 acre, privately owned properties) don't coordinate management ideals across private boundaries. 

            Many of the properties of which I speak are primarily hunting plots.  These lightly used and privately managed lots of land are often relatively neglected, at least when compared to more intensely managed tracts of land, such as county forests.  This leads to breaks in the treatment of a “landscape” that may require coordinated tactics to promote overall health.  One landowner may choose to put in a large food-plot or clear-cut for aspen regeneration and without the proper channels or procedures to communicate or plan with regards to the surrounding region, may see the same tactics used on the next property over.  It is this lack of communication that can often lead to an imbalance in a forest stand and see adverse, or even reverse, effects instead of what were originally planned for.  Whereas one landowner, with the intention of boosting herd numbers on his own personal plot, in harmony with his neighbors, may actually see numbers go down or move elsewhere due to the ripple effects of conflicting management plans. 

            While I'm quite sure that county foresters do the best they can to see that an area's forests, as a whole, are treated with respect to the rest of the county, it is impossible for them to assess every plot or talk every landowner into a certain form of management.  And before this becomes an issue of legislation, I feel that I should clarify my central intent of education.  Landownership should involve some level of responsibility towards educated decision-making regarding their land, so a better system and availability of forestry/ecology type educational programs would be beneficial to all landowners as a group.

            There are more than just a few issues to assail when it comes to a program that would run on such a fine line between public well-being and allocation of rights; decisions that lead to an over-arching management plan, agreements regarding the interests of many parties, compensation for ecologic/economic imbalances in a scheme, and funding for the education of the landowners, just to name a few, but with demand for resources and recreational land on a generally increasing trend, these are issues that are beginning to require a thorough look.  Attitudes and behaviors are changeable, over time, and if we want to see the ecological stability needed to guarantee that future generations can enjoy both wood framed houses and time in the outdoors, we must beginning addressing problems like these, and soon.