Reports From The States

[Ron Scott]

Wisconsin/Michigan/Minnesota

RE:  VERSO CLOSING MILLS IN WISCONSIN RAPIDS AND DULUTH
 
 Mills will be “indefinitely idle” beginning this spring and summer.  The Rapids mill takes a fair amount of wood from the U.P. in a market that’s already currently challenged. 
 
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune  

[Ron Scott]

Minnesota! Nature Conservancy Buys More Than 2,000 Acres of Land in Superior National Forest

Minnesota Star Tribune, Oct. 7, 2020

More than 2,000 acres of land and six wilderness lakes deep in the heart of Superior National Forest will soon be forever protected. Mike Freed, a retired forestry professor, sold the land this week to the Nature Conservancy, which plans to keep it wild as a corridor and refuge for animals, trees and other wildlife.

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The E. Forester

[Ron Scott]

Maine Forestry Officials: Be on the Looking for  Japanese Stiltgrass in Maine

Maine Public, Oct. 13, 2020

The Maine Department of Agriculture Conservation and Forestry is urging landowners and nursery professionals to check for an aggressive, invasive plant that’s only recently been confirmed in Maine.

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The E Forester

[Ron Scott]

Michigan

RE: FORESTRY AT MICHIGAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES
 
MSU has been working with Bay College in Escanaba and Muskegon Community College to develop forestry related programs.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/training-future-foresters-new-part-of-partnership-between-msu-community-colleges-industry
 
Gogebic Community College has had a program for a number of years.
https://gogebic.edu/academics/Career/forestrytechnology.html

[Ron Scott]

Wisconsin

RE:  TALL TIMBER – MILWAUKEE CLAIMS SOME FAME
 
 Milwaukee boasts new construction of a 25-story mass timber apartment building, tallest in the world.  You may have noticed the blurb in the latest SAF eforester. 
 
https://www.wuwm.com/post/worlds-tallest-timber-tower-rising-milwaukee#stream/0

[Ron Scott]

Michigan
Invasive, Hyperbolically Named Vine Makes 1st Known Appearance In Michigan
WKAR-FM, Nov. 9, 2020
An invasive plant that has long caused problems in eastern states has been found in Michigan. Now state officials are trying to find out if it's growing anywhere besides an Albion College nature preserve, where a professor spotted it last month.

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Digital Forester

[Ron Scott]

Minnesota
Minnesota DNR Wants Black Spruce Cones, and Has Upped the Price Per Bushel
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Dec. 31, 2020
The state's black spruce seed cupboard is bare. So the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is paying people $85 a bushel — up from $70 last year — for the cones to meet spring orders for reforesting. The pay was bumped up to attract more people to cone-picking, and the push is on.

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The E-Forester

[Ron Scott]

Wisconsin The Handbook for Northwoods Forest Conservation (WI)  WSAU-FM, Jan. 1, 2021  The COVID-19 pandemic has put conservation workshops and classes on hold, so the Northwoods Alliance and Partners in Forestry Cooperative came together to fill the void. They published a handbook about Northwoods forest conservation as a resource for those interested in land management. READ MORE

The E-Forester

[Ron Scott]

Michigan
17-Year Cicadas to Emerge in Michigan This Spring
 WDIV-TV, Feb. 2, 2021
 Sometimes referred to as the Great Eastern Brood, the Brood X periodical cicada is a 17-year cicada that last emerged in 2004. Periodical cicadas spend most of their lives as larva, burrowed in the ground, taking a full 17 years to mature from nymph to adult, feeding on nutrients and fluids from the soil and small roots. When it's time, the buggers tunnel to the surface and wait for the soil to warm to about 64 degrees. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions per acre can appear simultaneously in some areas, according to U-Mich researchers, leaving behind an exoskeleton as they fly off to sing and mate.

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The E-Forester