Forest Resource in Geographical Management Units
- Overview & State Map
- Explanation of GMUs
- BadAxe - LaCrosse
- Black - Buffalo - Trempeleau
- Central Wisconsin
- Grant - Platte - Sugar - Pecatonica
- Headwaters
- Illinois Fox
- Lakeshore
- Lake Superior
- Lower Chippewa
- Lower Fox
- Lower Rock
- Lower Wisconsin
- Milwaukee River
- Mississippi River
- Root Pike
- Sheboygan
- St. Croix
- Upper Chippewa
- Upper Fox
- Upper Green Bay
- Upper Rock
- Wolf
Lower Chippewa GMU
Below are statistics, charts and general information on the Lower Chippewa GMU. All chart and map links open in a separate window.
Four counties, Chippewa Dunn, Eau Claire and Pierce counties, make up 75% of the land area of the Lower Chippewa GMU. Only 34% of the land area is forested and 75% of this is located in Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire and Clark counties.
Forest acreage
Forest acreage in the Lower Chippewa GMU has decreased by about 45,000 acres or 5% over the past decade. The most recent survey (2001-2005) indicates that productive forest land makes up 850,000 acres or 34% of the total land area of the GMU.
View bar chart: Timberland acreage in the Lower Chippewa GMU
Forest types
Oak-dominated forest types (white oak/northern red oak/hickory, northern red oak, and post oak/blackjack oak) account for 28% of timberland acreage and hard maple-dominated types make up another 19%. Bottomland forest types (mainly sugarberry/hackberry/green ash and elm/ash/locust) account for 12% of timberland acreage. View bar chart: The most important forest types in the Lower Chippewa GMU
Growing stock volume
Total growing stock volume in the Lower Chippewa GMU is 958.5 million cubic feet. Red maple is the dominant tree species by volume followed by sugar maple and yellow birch.
Ratio of growth to removals
Net annual growth of trees (47.1million cubic feet) in the Lower Chippewa GMU exceeds annual removals (28.8 million cubic feet) by about 63%. The ratio of growth to standing volume is 4.9%. Cottonwood and aspen account for about 50% of removals and northern red oak another 14%.
Habitat type
Over half of all timberland in the Lower Chippewa GMU is classified as dry mesic or mesic and another 18% is either mesic-wet mesic or lowland. View pie chart: Major habitat types in the Lower Chippewa GMU
View map: Major habitat types in the Lower Chippewa GMUTimberland ownership
Over 3/4 of the timberland in the Lower Chippewa GMU remains in private hands with 23% owned by county, municipal, and state governments.
View pie chart: Ownership of Timberland in the Lower Chippewa GMU