Located about an hour north of Green Bay, WI, the Menominee tribe has sustainably logged its forest in Wisconsin since 1854. Most of that was white pine, red oak, aspen, hemlock, and hard maple. Despite the over 200 million board feet of lumber harvested since then, the forest has more trees on the same acreage than it did when harvesting started, with some trees over 200 years old.
That careful balance was done by putting the forest first and profits as a by-product of healthy forest management. A crisis is emerging, though. There are too many trees and not enough loggers. With aging equipment and a labor shortage – the mill is only producing around 9-12 million board feet a year with sustainable harvesting goals between 22 and 25 million. The unharvested trees create dangers to the forest as trees age and die. These dead and dying trees will be home to disease and pests. Furthermore, the density of the forest will increase – creating an environment that invites invasive diseases and pests and making the forest less resilient to wildfires.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/22/climate/menominee-forest-sustainable-earth-day.html