A Day in the Life of a Forester
By Denise Thornton
DNR foresters help sustain Wisconsin’s woodlands by managing the state’s public forests, but in addition, every Wisconsin landowner with 10 or more acres of forest are welcome to request that a DNR forester provide advice by walking with them on their land. To learn what a typical day is like for a Wisconsin DNR Forester, I followed Nicholas Koltz, based out of the DNR Service Center in Janesville, as he made his rounds on a recent Tuesday in February.
By high school, Nick was sure that he wanted to work with the natural landscape and make it better. To that end, he got his degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and started his first job assignment in 2000 at the Kettle Moraine State Forest, Southern Unit. “When you get out of school, you think you know what forestry means, but for me, being hands-on is when it started to sink in and make real sense,” Nick remembers.
His next job took him to Hayward, where he worked as county forest liaison for Sawyer County. “It was refreshing to be in the big woods that go on forever,” remembers Nick. “But Hayward was five hours away from my family and friends, so I transferred to Janesville in 2010 and have been here ever since.”
I arrived at Nick’s office at 9 a.m. as he finished up a regular coordinating call with co-workers, and he was ready to hit the road. Like many DNR Foresters, Nick spends 30 to 40 percent of his time on public lands with responsibility divided between timber sales and prescribed burning. The rest of his time is spent supporting private landowners. Our first stop was just such a visit.
On the way Nick told me, “We not only answer the landowner’s questions but also provide recommendations. Understanding their vision is a big part of the job. We have to read the land and also read the landowner. I may hear, ‘My husband and I have owned 11 acres of woods for a few years, and we don’t know where to start,’ or I may meet people who know everything about their land, and are just looking for a little reassurance.”
On this brisk and windy Tuesday, he visited Alan and Deborah Henke in the Fitchburg area, a retired couple who were having difficulty in a couple of spots on an 8 acre mix of hardwoods and conifers they had planted years ago. We hiked from a small, bald bluff to a creek bottom area while Al described his efforts and results, and Nick asked questions and offered suggestions. “Some of the issue is most likely soil related on these hill tops and a quick check of the soils map should tell us much. Deer browse is the main issue for these other spots and tree shelters are a simple fix” Nick told Al. Back at the truck, Nick pulled out a grant application which could help with the costs of tree establishment and maintenance. Landowners can make good use of these grants, but so many people are applying now that the wait period is starting to grow. “These forms only take a few minutes to fill out, and it’s good to do it right away,” Nick told Al.
On the road again, Nick said, “Overall, the tree planting effort they put in years ago is very obvious, and they only have a couple of small, isolated problem spots. On my way back after meeting with private landowners, I am very often incredibly inspired. These people have other jobs. They are not making millions doing conservation work, but it is something they totally believe in, and it’s coming from their hearts.”
On this particular Tuesday, the rest of the day was spent checking up on public projects that Nick manages. Our first stop was a State Fish Hatchery where Coho salmon, northern pike, and walleye are raised in the heart of Lake Mills. The issue was a portion of a 10 acre timber sale where dead ash trees were looming over a senior care facility on the other side of the fence.
“These trees were going to flop over the fence and do a lot of damage. The fish hatchery project manager found out paying arborists to remove some of the trees was just way too expensive, and that’s when he reached out to me for what other options existed. I was able to create just enough interest with a local logger and thus these hazard trees were harvested through a merchantable timber sale,” said Nick. After the standing dead ash were harvested and removed there was still plenty of slash left behind. Today met with Ray Klug of Whitetail Forestry, who was hired on to forestry mow the remaining slash on site and to prep the area for future tree planting efforts.
It was a short hop to our next stop at Aztalan State Park. Nick could not keep from smiling as he spoke of this timber sale project. Aztalan also had a tons of hazard ash that needed removal over an 18 acre site. “Everybody came together to make this project a reality. There are obviously many interested parties on something like this, and the initial support from the park manager was key!” Unfortunately, enough frozen ground conditions didn’t happen during the winter months to allow for the timber harvest to take place. “This was not a normal timber operation. This is Ground Zero when it comes to Native American archeological gems in Wisconsin,” Nick said. A severe drought that persisted throughout the spring and summer created the perfect window of opportunity for the trees to be harvested carefully to avoid disturbing the site. “Nobody really likes a drought, but it sure came at the right time and the logger could not have done a better job” said Nick.
Zachary Stencil, department archeologist in the state Historic Preservation Unit, Bureau of Environmental Analysis and Sustainability, said, “working with Nick this past summer has really opened our eyes to the possibilities for large-scale forest and prairie restoration. What started out as a hazard tree removal project, quickly upgraded into a park-wide restoration project. Aztalan is a National Historic Landmark, the crown jewel of archaeological sites that we have under our stewardship at WisDNR Historic Preservation. Nick’s designs for the northern-most forest, the Crawfish River shoreline, and the central plaza prairie really have us excited to see his vision play out.”
Our last stop of the day was at the 35-acre Rock River Prairie State Natural Area south of Janesville along the Rock River. This project was stuck in limbo for years because the trees that needed removing did not interest lumber harvesters. Here, Nick has been working closely with Sharon Fandel, Field Ecologist with the Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation at the WDNR. “The project offers a nice opportunity that really hits the “sweet spot” in terms of overall site management goals,” Fandel said. “When Nick came to me with the suggestion of a firewood harvest, I was intrigued. As it turned out, the very trees we wanted removed from the site – cherry, Siberian elm, boxelder, etc. – were just what the firewood harvester would be targeting. It’s given us the opportunity to work across our programs to achieve a desired outcome for the site and gives us a huge leap forward in the restoration process, all of which is a real win-win.”
“This project has tested my abilities,” Nick acknowledged. “It’s called a State Natural Area for a reason,” he added gazing across the landscape and seeing its potential. “This has never been tilled. This is native and there is a long list of beautiful species here that are generally only found on native, remnant prairie in southern Wisconsin. Some trees will be replaced with an oak/hickory mix, which provides the most benefit to wildlife, and the open area of original native prairie will be expanded by collecting seed and spreading it into the newly cleared areas. Though we are surrounded by humanity and bordered by a highway, it’s a real refuge.”
From the Rock River, we headed back to the DNR Service Center where Nick had another telephone conference scheduled to coordinate future projects. Before I said goodby to him in his office, he proudly showed me his Aldo Leopold coffee cup. Early in his high school years, Nick told me, his older brother had been introduced to A Sand County Almanac by one of his college engineering professors. “I was pretty young when I first read it, but I knew right away that this guy was making a lot of sense. Later on, when I attended college at Stevens Point, I quickly found out that I was one of many, many Leopold fans! The land ethic stands the test of time.”
Nick is one of the many dedicated DNR foresters in Wisconsin ready to help you in managing your land in healthy, productive ways.