Wisconsin Ag Connection - State to Receive $1.9 Million for Rural Schools & Roads

Wisconsin Ag News Headlines

State to Receive $1.9 Million for Rural Schools & Roads
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 01/03/2008

Wisconsin is slated to receive $1.9 million for rural schools and roads, thanks to federal funds from timber sales revenue. According to State Agriculture Secretary Rod Nilsestuen, the funds are part of a total $389 million in Forest Service revenue being distributed to 41 states and Puerto Rico under the Secure Rural Schools Act and Community Self Determination Act of 2000. Since 1908, 25 percent of Forest Service revenues, such as those from timber sales, mineral resources and grazing fees, have been returned to states in which national forest lands are located.

"Forests are an important part of Wisconsin's land use and a cornerstone of our state's economy," Nilsestuen said. "The landscape of northern Wisconsin is one of the greatest conservation stories in the nation and one we need to keep in mind as we act to preserve working lands in 2008."

Thousands of acres of virgin forestland in northern Wisconsin were virtually destroyed by the early 1900s, over cut, burned over or farmed out. Land forfeited or abandoned to county governments was in turn sold to the federal government in the 1930s. Thanks to a massive restoration effort by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression and more than 80 years of careful stewardship, Wisconsin now enjoys more than 1.5 million acres of beautiful, young forest protected as the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

Wisconsin's Working Lands Initiative seeks new and better ways to balance growth with preserving the state's working farm and forestland.

The Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.