Issue: Forest Health

Forest health is the condition wherein a forest has the capacity across the landscape for renewal, for recovery from a wide range of disturbances, and for retention of its ecological resiliency while meeting current and future needs of people for desired levels of values, uses, products, and services.

Invasive exotic species present what may well be the greatest threat to the long-term health and integrity of Wisconsin's forests. Invasive plants present a problem for native plants as they invade natural systems, often dominating a community by competing for nutrients, sunlight and space, and by altering the food web or physical environment. Similarily exotic insect species such as the Asian Long Horned Beetle have no natural predators and therefore have the potential to cause serious ecologic and economic impacts. Dutch Elm Disease, Gypsy moth, and Asian Long Horned Beetle are some of the major exotic threats to Wisconsin's forests.

Use the model implementation language below to develop goals, objectives, and policies that address this issue.

• Model Implementation Language
• Fact Sheet (PDF, 313K)

Consider the Issue by Element

Agricultural, Natural and Cultural Resources
Intergovernmental Cooperation
Land Use
Transportation
Utilities and Community Facilities

Trends related to Forest Health

Some species are declining.
Some tree species have declined or effectively been removed from Wisconsin's forests. American elm and butternut have declined in recent years. Dutch elm disease and butternut canker have seriously impacted these beautiful and valuable tree species. Some individual trees show resistance to the various diseases, but not enough to hope for recovery in the near future. Jack pine and the jack pine forest type acreage are also decreasing. Much of the acreage is being replaced with other pine or oak species.

Invasive exotic species are an increasing threat.
Human activities--trade, travel, gardening, and recreation--have resulted in many species not native to Wisconsin being introduced to the state. Some of these new species cause problems in native ecosystems. Exotic species often have few if any competitors or predators, making it easy for them to take over an ecosystem, significantly altering the structure and diversity of the system. The gypsy moth, Asian long-horned beetle, Dutch elm disease, garlic mustard, and Japanese honeysuckle are some of the exotic species that have invaded, are invading, or pose a future threat to Wisconsin's forests.

Forest disturbance patterns are changing.
Forest disturbance patterns have changed dramatically over the past century. This has resulted in significant impacts upon forest composition, structure, and function. Once, the dominant short-term disturbance factors in Wisconsin's forests were windthrow, human caused fire, disease, and severe weather. Today, fire has been widely suppressed in our forests. Human-caused disturbance is now predominant in Wisconsin's forests, while disease, windthrow, and severe weather continue as disturbance factors. Various types, intensities and timing of disturbance have different impacts on forest composition, structure and function.