Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

Over the night of July 19-20, 2019, Mother Nature carved a massive swath of destruction through northern Wisconsin.  The derecho, or line of intense, widespread, and fast moving thunderstorms, rolled through northern Wisconsin, leaving in its wake roughly 131,000 acres of damage in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, as well as an additional 151,000 acres of damage to private landowners, county forests, state lands, and tribal properties.  For several years following this destruction, the focus of the forestry agencies was to clear downed trees with the intention of preventing unmanageable fuel loading, which is the buildup of dead forest material that can act as fuel for wildfires.  In 2023, they had reached a point where reforestation could begin, focusing on longer lived species such as red pine, white pine, and tamarack that don’t naturally regenerate as easily as other shorter lived species like oak and aspen.  There were nearly 600 acres reforested in 2023 through the planting of over 400,000 trees, which will restore critical animal habitat and contribute to re-establishing the natural stand diversity of the forest.