Gaps and opportunities
We chat with Brad Hutnik, Wisconsin DNR Forest Ecologist and Silviculturist, about climate smart strategies at the Forest Exploration Center, including gap development and mimicking the historical impacts of fire, to encourage age and size class diversity.
A Fallen Forest Giant Provides a Place to Rest
What happens when a tree falls in the woods? How a bur oak became a beautiful and functional place to rest. There’s no limit to what we can create with urban wood!
Reflections from the FEC Songbird Squad
Reflections from the FEC Songbird Squad, our inaugural Great Wisconsin Birdathon team.
Spring Ephemerals of the Forest
Spring ephemerals and wildflowers bring color and cheer to the early spring forest, just as the trees are beginning to leaf out. The more you can identify, the more you will appreciate them! Use these photos and our Forest-specific checklist to identify some of the most common and beloved wildflowers that grow in the forest understory.
Wisconsin’s Tree Planting Pledge is Growing Strong
Wisconsin made a bold commitment to plant 75 million trees, including 1 million trees in urban areas, and conserve 125,000 acres of forestland by 2030. You may have heard of the Trillion Tree Pledge, but what is it, and is Wisconsin really going to plant one trillion trees? And how is the Forest Exploration Center contributing to the pledge?
The Economics of Sustainable Forestry
What do you think of when we say “economic benefits” of forestry? Do your thoughts turn to chainsaws, logging trucks, and vast clearcut wastelands? Today, much of the logging that happens here in Wisconsin and elsewhere is based on a long history of science-based, sustainable forestry practices. And the products we create from tree harvests connect industries and labor far outside forestry.