January 4th, 2022; Cass Lake Minnesota – Timber harvesting is underway on RGS/AWS’s first National Forest Shared Stewardship project. This is the same project we highlighted in our Winter 2021 issue of Covers Magazine. In that article, we highlighted how Shared Stewardship projects are an integral part of RGS/AWS’s Model of Working Forests as timber revenue from this sale is being reinvested into additional work on the forest and impacts are being compounded.
To date, 97 miles of hunter walking trails have been improved and 10 new gates have been installed on 10 different hunter walking trails, impacting multiple ranger districts of the Chippewa National Forest through our stewardship activities. Holding true to the shared nature of these stewardship activities, RGS/AWS has hired multiple local contractors, took full advantage of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between RGS/AWS and the American Bird Conservancy, and continued partnership with Forest Service staff to complete this work.
Greg Cook Logging Inc. of Bigfork, MN first moved harvesting equipment onto the timber sale area on January 2nd. With the first loads of wood planned to be trucked out the week of January 10th, the 83 acre sale is on track to be completed this winter. The primarily aspen/hardwood timber sale will eventually support jobs at Norboard, Sappi, and Savanna Pallets with the raw materials required for manufacturing, and the wildlife habitat created through these efforts will support hunting and recreational opportunities for years to come.
