Stockbridge-Munsee Community
Forestry
Staff
About
The Forestry Committee meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month at the Forestry Office.
Randall Wollenhaup is the Forestry Committee Chair. The Forestry Department hours are 7:00am to 3:30pm weekdays.
The Tribal land base totals around 25,400 acres with over 22,500 covered by forest. Of this, about 18,800 acres are Trust and 6,550 are fee. The land is rich and varied with a wide variety of plant and animal species that occupy the glaciated landscape of both uplands and lowlands.
The Mohican Forest is considered to be among the finest in Northeastern Wisconsin. The forest is young, originating from around the turn of the last century when nearly all of Wisconsin was clear-cut and burned. The forest shows characteristics of both the northern conifer-hardwoods and the central hardwoods due to the proximity to the tension zone, a geographical area that marks the transition from southern species to northern. A healthy forest is comprised of diverse species compositions and varied age classes. Over thirty-one species of trees comprise seven general forest cover types on the reservation. Eastern hemlock is the most abundant tree. The diverse northern hardwood forest type covers more than 50% of the land base with much of the remaining uplands a mix of aspen, white birch, red oak, and white pine. Forested and non-forested swamps occupy over 25% of the remaining land base. Over one third of the forested lands are considered High Conservation Forests and these areas are excluded from commercial logging operations.
The forest is managed by the Tribal Council and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A seven-member Forestry Committee, Stockbridge-Munsee Forestry Staff, and Bureau Staff propose management activities to the Tribal Council and Bureau of Indian Affairs. On average, forest management activities have earned the Tribe approximately $500,000 in stumpage income by harvesting approximately 6,000 cords and 800,000 board feet timber annually. The forest has an estimated 275 million feet of standing timber volume and the volume is increasing every year.
