May 1st Field Day, Iowa County Wisconsin DNR

The morning registration/welcome hour was held at the Dodgeville WI-DNR service center. The forecast called for a chilly 50 degree rainy day, but still 55 people showed up despite the weatherman’s prediction. From the service center, we carpooled as best we could to the Rule Demonstration Forest, about 8 miles northwest of Dodgeville. The Rule Forest has been owned by the State for some 30 years.

The attendees split up into three groups. DNR foresters John Nielsen, Tom Hill and Jason Sable lead their respective groups to see different management which has been done in the past 20 years. The groups saw seed tree, shelterwood, clearcut and improvement harvests. The success, or lack, of regeneration of desirable tree species (especially oak and walnut) resulting from each type of cutting was of special interest. Landowners were able to talk about the economics of leaving large walnut trees grow even larger.

Next, the attendees walked a former pastured area that was direct seeded to walnut and planted to oak and conifer seedlings. The consensus was direct seeding of walnut works quite well, but deer browsing can be a problem.

During lunch at woods nearby, Shaw Gere, a local arborist, showed the crowd how he climbs and tops a 75 foot ash tree. Shawn has been hired by a few local forestland owners to top trees prior to the commercial timber harvests to prevent the tops of the big trees from damaging the valuable walnut leave-trees. It was an impressive display of skill and athleticism.

Finally the group traveled to a 50 acre woodlot which had been commercially thinned for hardwood pulp, a very rare occurance this far south in the state. Thousands of pole and small sawlog-sized walnuts benefited from the removal of 700+ cords of hardwood trees (mostly elm). Normally the landowner would just kill, or drop and leave lay, the trees. In this case the work was done at a profit to the landowner, and the woods resource was utilized and not wasted. Hopefully this type of harvest is a sign of things to come.