Division of Forestry Strategic Direction
Statewide Forest Strategy 2010
Statewide Forest Assessment 2010
Forest Sustainability Framework
Statewide Forest Plan 2004
B5. Issue: “Green” accounting is a new way of
evaluating forest benefits.
Comment #: 1
Very abstract. Good luck coming up with something people can understand.
Comment #: 2
Most people concerned with "green issues" don't have to live and work in the forest.
Comment #: 3
Our forests breath for us and keep the air clean. Each time you cut a tree you cutt off "our" respirator. Wetlands filter water - each time you put a logging road through a wettland you muddy up our drinking water. You need to include "green" in your accountability.
Comment #: 4
Also include infiltration benefits (water quantity)
Comment #: 5
Yes
Comment #: 6
Our tax assessor would love another added value to help them tax the hell out of private non-program landowners.
Comment #: 7
Amen!
Comment #: 8
Keep forest productive and utilize and increase acreage in public forest and the benefit about will increase also
Comment #: 9
Yes!
Comment #: 10
the forests can and should provide things a lot more important then economic value
Comment #: 11
This is too idealistic of a concept.
Comment #: 12
like carbon sinks, etc?
Comment #: 13
stick to forest not environment issues
Comment #: 14
Need more research. How will property taxes, landuse planning and zoning be affected?
Comment #: 15
Education can achieve understanding! Our grandchildren learn this from us on our land!
Comment #: 16
Be very carefult here!
Comment #: 17
Just use old fashioned common sense. It happens whether yu plan or not.
Comment #: 18
implement tax credit for buying land and not building for 50 yrs
Comment #: 19
If we manage forests for high productivity we will always have plenty of beautiful woodlands to enjoy. That is the whole forest will never be clear cut.
Comment #: 20
Research is the key.
Comment #: 21
Aesthetics and society values are intangables. They can not be measured with certainty as values and opions change by individuals and overtime by society.
Comment #: 22
Agree with statements but am unfamiliar with term "green accounting."
Comment #: 23
Green taxes
Comment #: 24
Another term "green" that has no meaning and is misleading
Comment #: 25
Someone had better start assigning value to wild places before they are gone.
Comment #: 26
Leave to US forest research
Comment #: 27
these are extremely important values.
Comment #: 28
The "green" values are a hard sell to the politicians. They are looking for votes from the loggers and motorized recreationists.
Comment #: 29
I'm not sure of the benefits to the smaller tree farmers. I know that large corporations trade emissions for CO2 credit.
Comment #: 30
When these value are ascertained, will the landowner receive any compensaton for them?
Comment #: 31
Do not spend tax $'s to develop a system
Comment #: 32
Im afraid of too maney laws and the framers of our Constitution worned us of this.
Comment #: 33
This long overlooked issue should be as important as maintaining biodiversity. This a new, but very important issue
Comment #: 34
Amen - get this going!
Comment #: 35
Only if you use true economists and accountants. Keep the activists out or proportional to the population only.
Comment #: 36
I am somewhat mollified, but because these values are hard to quantify is no reason to abandon them to secondary status
Comment #: 37
This should be taught in grade school
Comment #: 38
"Green" simply adds to the value of the forest.
Comment #: 39
The jury is out on this.
Comment #: 40
Wow! Can we actually get here?
Comment #: 41
Green Accounting should be international, for it has been proven that social value can be as economically valuable as harvest value. (Costa Rica)
Comment #: 42
But will they do it!! All they want is the grant money.
Comment #: 43
If a forest/ecosystem remains sustainable then I feel that is proof enough that the forest is healthy. We can only study so much! I don't feel we have to put a value on every detail.
Comment #: 44
A real can of economic worms - I've read Rich Bishop's & Joseph Buongiornos ideas here and I'm not sure they'll sell -
Comment #: 45
Why not preserve the forests based on general ethics, why does economics have to even play into it.
Comment #: 46
Without the forest, the north woods tourist economy goes away. Account that?
Comment #: 47
Either speak in terms of all values, or take "economic value" out of decision making.
Comment #: 48
A waste of time and money.
Comment #: 49
This is possibly the most important item of the whole issue: Value judgements on the Forest has to change from the price per board foot of lumber to the intangible worth of environmental issues - clean air, recreation, clean water and all the associated wildlife population - timber cutting has a legitimate place - but as population pressure increase, we must have old growth ? and solitude also.
Comment #: 50
Make info available and publicize.
Comment #: 51
Polluters pay for ? to clean up bad air!
Comment #: 52
Green accounting is too new and untested to be part of a statewide plan.
Comment #: 53
I.E. carbon storage.
Comment #: 54
Valuation is too subjective.
Comment #: 55
Doesn't a young forest function in an environmental sense the same as an old forest (as in O-2 production)?
Comment #: 56
Without specifics to "assign value," it is hard to comment.
Comment #: 57
This is great.
Comment #: 58
Give forest owners tax incentives for providing clean air. City folk can help pay for this.
Comment #: 59
It is easy to get carried away and lose credibility. We've witnessed some "Johnny come lately" environmentalists go beyond practicality.
Comment #: 60
Encourage more forest with more tourism use. The Green will take care of itself.
Comment #: 61
Consider carbon sequestration and how mature forests become "sinks."
Comment #: 62
Don't waste your time, or my money.
Comment #: 63
Only to the extent that the accounting is a lively interpretation. Dull equation leaves most people ?
Comment #: 64
Read "Hard Green" by Peter Huber
Comment #: 65
Very, very, very important.
Comment #: 66
Research poor in this area
Comment #: 67
Very important!
Comment #: 68
Forestry as it stands today should be maintained and refined, not expanded, or reduced, the enviornmental benefit from existing.
Comment #: 69
The larger cities have destroyed the aesthetics within themselves. I do not think the people who have done this should be allowed to control the forests too.
Comment #: 70
Let taxes/relief help determine green accounting
Comment #: 71
do we really need a value put on these issues?
Comment #: 72
Is it agreed that "Green" accounting should result in lower property taxes for properly managed forest land?
Comment #: 73
This might help in selling the legislature on acting on forest issues!
Comment #: 74
Green accounting can not come soon enough. This issue hsould receive our support and our dollars.
Comment #: 75
This has been missing and it makes me happy that stronger consideration is now on these values.
Comment #: 76
Good luck!
Comment #: 77
See comment B4.
Comment #: 78
There is not a strong and accepted manner of doing this and like "willingness to pay" and other methods that have been tried in the past it is wide open to abuse. There is no scientifically sound way to compare, economically, market goods and non-market goods except in rare circumstances.
Comment #: 79
These are personal values - a hard call to put on a "society value".
Comment #: 80
Properly managed forest such as those mentioned in A11. Provide all those mentioned above, yet they are still working productive forests.
Comment #: 81
Why two strongly agree?? (NOTE: #5 is checked but crossed off on this.)
Comment #: 82
Interesting
Comment #: 83
Clean air, clean water, and soil that's not being washed away are deffinitely valuable to me
Comment #: 84
There can not be an accurate and reliable way to do this.
Comment #: 85
My opinion is that these types of accounting systems, such as UW-Madison's new research, are much less than perfect. These numbers will be used to argue against active forest management.
Comment #: 86
I don't believe Green accounting is an issue that we should be giving credibility to. This is more often a misunderstanding of what is involved in forest management.
Comment #: 87
As mentioned above, this may be some of the creative problem solving needed to ensure the longterm existence of our forests.
Comment #: 88
Our analyses of forest values need to accomodate the complexity of environmental and social benefits.
Comment #: 89
Wait until the new research has perfected ways to assess the value.
Comment #: 90
Too much accounting is not good for the soul
Comment #: 91
This should be rephrased as a social issue. We need to identify the values our citizens place on forests, not just for timber and hunting sites.
Comment #: 92
I think this system should be used when a new development is being planned. Everyone wants cheep homes and development but little is said about is biological impacts!
Comment #: 93
Good forest management can also provide some of these "green" values. They are not mutually exclusive as groups like the Sierra Club would have us believe.
Comment #: 94
I imagine there is a lot of political pressure to ignore these benefits, by people who believe it undermines their positions on forest use. But the values are real, however difficult it may be to estimate them.
Comment #: 95
"green accounting" is an oxymoron. makes as much sense as art for the blind or music for the deaf
Comment #: 96
Nice idea but it will always be cotroversial because it is too subjective.
Comment #: 97
There are values beyond economic and we should not fall victim to a false perception that other values need to be translated into dollars. Can we really define the dollar value of the Grand Canyon? And if we can what will we do when someone wants to buy it for the assessed value. Should we sell it beacuse it makes economic sense?
Comment #: 98
There are some aspects of this issue that give me pause to question the motives of it, eg. the issue of forest aesthetics. As a private landowner, I am concerned that the issue of aesthetics is starting to intrude into everyday life of management decisions. Things like timber harvesting are messy at first, but in a couple of years, the slash and tops start to decompose. But, for the first two years, it does look ugly. Does somehow the beauty of a hand-crafted walnut clock emerging from a log harvested from a forest offset the initial aesthetic insults? On the other hand, timber harvest does not look that much different from windthrow or a tornado. The question really is whether it was caused by man or nature. Some people would say it would make a difference if the logs were harvested by an Amish logger working with horses versus a skidder with a diesel engine and chained tires. What is happening is the subtle intrusion of human values, predjudices and beliefs and the political expression of them into the everyday lives of individuals who may make management decisions differently. To be really fair about this issue, it needs to be expanded to dollar denominate aethetics so that there is fair basis for comparison. Willingness to pay is not a good surrogate for actual dollars. In other words, "show me the money" if aesthetics is worth so much.
Comment #: 99
The "green" accounting should be looked at in the big picture. One little forest area may be valuable to the whole picture.
Comment #: 100
The "green" accounting should be looked at in the big picture. One little forest area may be valuable to the whole picture.
Comment #: 101
you can address this by sending the so-called greens back where they came from---Milwaukee, Chicago etc
Comment #: 102
This may be our forests' most valuable asset. It must be included in a statewide plan.
Comment #: 103
How do large tracts of wilderness in some areas of the state affect other areas of the state. Think of the value the norther forest has to people living in Milwaukee and Madison who want to get away for a vacation.
Comment #: 104
Let us make it more than a word game. High impact industrialized forestry practices by any other name still smell the same.
Comment #: 105
THIS IS BULL.WHO ARE THE NAMES LISTED AS ADVISERS IN THE HARD COPY OF THIS SURVEY ???
WERE THEESE SUPPOSED ADVISERS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL -EXTREME GROUPS ???
Comment #: 106
One cannot place a dollar value on the intrinsic value of a forest ecosystem.
Comment #: 107
Most Wisconsin citizens enjoy forests and the most common way is by seeing them. Forest management should show a proportional attention to aesthetics.
Comment #: 108
Not addressable in the plan, but might be a good planning tool when developed.
Comment #: 109
Great.
Comment #: 110
Very strongly agree!
Comment #: 111
These green values are extemely important to Wisconsin citizen .We must make a greater effort to place these green values into our economic formulas. In the long run these green values may be the most significat value of forests to citizens. We should manage for Green value as a true part of economic value.
Comment #: 112
I think that this is an EXTREMELY important issue! Perhaps this will help open the door to placing a dollar value on other natural resource services and the benefits they provide; such as wetlands(mitigation of excess nutrients and toxins) and soils (importance of prime land to produce higher yield from lower input)
Comment #: 113
Need will increase with increased demand for outdoor recreation.
Comment #: 114
When you do use this poor method of value placement on an entity with innumerable benefits, use it as a tool to help people find a reason to care about what goes on around them.
Comment #: 115
I believe this is critical to understand and educate our teachers so they can educate the next generation.
Comment #: 116
Even without Green counting, a federal plan to get state funding for managing resources recently failed. It would have put taxes on nonconsumptive uses of natural resources. It is unfortunate that the people of Wisconsin didn't know enough about that initiative (CARA, forerly known as TWW) and let their representatives know.
Comment #: 117
Removal of greenhouse gasses are another potential that should be "accounted" for.
Comment #: 118
This is more of a "stand" issue. No one likes to see a stand change through management. But on a statewide basis this isn't a big issue
Comment #: 119
I would go slowly on this one. It would be interesting to see what the results of this would be.
Comment #: 120
very important but will be difficult
educate citizens on enviornmental
impact
Comment #: 121
See earlier comments.
Comment #: 122
This is a key point. Our economic system must learn to recognize and reconcile the many incredibly valuable services that healthy forests provide to people.
Comment #: 123
This is a key point. Our economic system must learn to recognize and reconcile the many incredibly valuable services that healthy forests provide to people.
Comment #: 124
Unfortunately, unless we place a monetary value on wilderness and preservation, it will not be protected!
Comment #: 125
Is this like a cost-benifit analysis?
Comment #: 126
It's about time that aesthetic values are taken into account.
Comment #: 127
Very important!
Comment #: 128
Thank you for recognizing this issue. Green accounting is indeed crucial and long overdue. For example, there are huge public and private investments in hydroelectric, water supply, and irrigation systems. The amortized financial "life" of these systems can be shortened by poor forestry in watersheds causing sedimentation and more rapid in-fill of flowages. Thus bad forestry can "cost" others downstream. There are countless other real world economic and ecological connections that have thus far been overlooked. It is long past time to add them to the ledger sheets. Otherwise, our collective ignorance will continue to be very expensive.
Comment #: 129
I'm not aware that this kind of analysis has advanced far enough to make it a useful tool for decisionmaking.
Comment #: 130
RALPH NADER!
Comment #: 131
While it is important to educate the public about these amenities, I doubt that putting any type of value on them will make a different. People don't understand the value of nontangibles until they are gone.
Comment #: 132
with this new way of assesing forest we can understand the true value of a forest and help to maintain it by also learning what it needs
Comment #: 133
We need to evaluate every aspect of the forests to fully evaluate it. We need to look at everything to put a price on it.
Comment #: 134
We need to evaluate every aspect of the forests to fully evaluate it. We need to look at everything to put a price on it.
Comment #: 135
I think it is good that we can have such a thing because it is good to have clean air.
Comment #: 136
Concentrate on other issues at this time.
Comment #: 137
I think green accounting should be promoted in every way possible. Support the research. Educate the public. Use these concepts at public hearings. Get these ideas into the press.
Comment #: 138
The more we can justify the benefits of our natural areas in understandable terms the more secure those areas will become.
Comment #: 139
very subjective and not fact based
Comment #: 140
Yes! This is the way to go.
Comment #: 141
As this is also "experimental," it should not be applied whole-scale until its value is demonstrated, and rules of application are standardized.
Last Revised: Monday July 30 2007
RSS