You know something very, very bad has happened when we are moved to say, "It's a good thing Alverna isn't here to see this." That's what cousins Pam and Dan and Uncle Joe said to each other as they tromped through the ravaged woods of Old Frontenac this weekend. We were shocked by what we saw, which was clearly the result of unscrupulous loggers aiming to make a buck -- many bucks -- off of trees that should never have been harvested. Taking a historical perspective, Uncle Joe, our own wise forester, wrote this account of what led to this debacle.By ELMER (JOE) SPRICK
In the 1800s, the Garrards, an aristocratic family from Kentucky, spent summers on the
shores of Lake Pepin. One of its sons, Israel Garrard, a Northern Army general in the Civil War, loved the area and acquired several hundred acres of forested land along the lake. He named it Frontenac.In the 1880s, Israel donated several acres of forest to Florence Township with restrictions in the deed that precluded commercial development. Accordingly, a major highway and the railroad were developed farther west in what became New Frontenac.
The forestland contained mixed hardwoods, predominantly red oak, basswood, cherry, elm and maple. It was largely unmanaged. Hunting and firewood cutting (of dead trees) were permitted. Within the forest is a well-maintained cemetery where Gen. Garrard and his family lie buried, along with many citizens who loved this quiet area.
In the 1980s, the Frontenac Historical Preservation Commission was established, made up of eight civic-minded village dwellers. Their mission statement: "To protect and preserve the natural beauty, cultural heritage and historic features of the Frontenac Historic District." They succeeded in preserving a number of historic buildings and served as a watchdog group that prevented major highway construction and commercial development in the village.
In recent years, the commission recognized that management of the park timber had been neglected and that some of the trees up to 200 years old were deteriorating. Its choices: leaving the parklands as a natural area, cutting only dead trees for firewood as had been past practice; removing the culls and high-risk overmature trees, or hiring a consultant forester to advise and supervise a timber sale.
The commission members, who had no experience in managing or selling timber, could not have known the terms "logger's choice," "commercial clear-cut," "diameter limit" and "gypo logger" -- all dirty words to a forester.
They contacted a local sawmill operator who helped them designate the dead and high-risk trees. Unfortunately, stumps were not marked, which might have headed off the cutting of unmarked trees. A contract was let to a local tree service for the cutting of designated trees. That tree service subcontracted the cutting to an unscrupulous logger.
Sawyers came in a day before the contract starting date. Disregarding the markings, they cut nearly all of the big, sound, healthy and valuable trees. The cutting went on for a day and a half before township officials discovered the contract violations and the severe damage the skidder had inflicted on the remaining small trees.
The cutting resulted in newspaper headlines and a lot of angry citizens, especially those who love big trees and who own land bordering the parklands.
In a recent press interview, the commission chairman said: "We now know that the best approach is to work through a knowledgeable forestry consultant. The fee of 14 percent would be cheap, since he will get much more revenue from the harvest than an unknowledgeable woodlot owner and, more important, only the designated timber would be removed."
Ironically, the commission has unwittingly destroyed the very thing it had hoped to care for and protect.
Although cleanup is underway and new trees are being planted, inquiring minds may someday want to know what happened to Wakondiota Park in Old Frontenac in March 2007. Only time will tell if a stand of buckthorn will occupy the site for the next century. Will the ash saplings being planted survive the recently resurgent emerald ash borer? Will the oak saplings survive oak wilt infection? Or will the remaining stand of cull trees and buckthorn stand as a monument to the Frontenac Historic Preservation Commission?
It takes a true optimist to find something positive in the destruction of a stand of 150-year-old hardwoods, but one astute landowner whose lot borders the park had his taxes lowered because the big trees bordering it had been destroyed. (That landowner also compared what happened to the destruction of a herd of elephants to harvest their tusks. It's that ugly.)
A salty old forestry professor once warned a class I was in: "Trees are a long-term crop. The way you manage a stand of timber may have a great impact for 100 years or more. Consider the cutting practice carefully."
In the meantime, we can only hope that the general is sleeping peacefully in his grave.
