Wisconsin Managed Forest Law
T he Managed Forest Law is attractive because of the flexibility and many benefits it offers. It combines some characteristics of both the FCL and the WTL. Landowners have the option to choose a 25 or 50 year contract period. It is open to all private landowners.
Enacted in 1985, the Managed Forest Law will be revised in 1998 and every five years after that. Over 11,000 landowners have enrolled about 719,000 acres of forest land. Early conversion from FCL to MFL was open through January 1, 1998.
Conditions
- at least 10 acres of contiguous forest land located in a village or town taxing unit
- at least 80 percent of the land must have a minimum productive capacity of 20 cubic feet of timber per acres in a year
- a minimum forest cover of 80 percent
- a minimum average width of 120 feet
Obligations
- submit management plan
- follow management plan
- pay 85 cents annual tax per acre on open land and $2 per acre on closed land
- permit public access for hunting, fishing, cross-country skiing, sight-seeing, and hiking
- adopt sound management practices
- submit cutting notice before harvesting; unauthorized cutting is subject to a maximum of $1,000 fine
- submit cutting report after harvesting
- report accurate volumes of timber harvested
- pay 5 percent yield tax based on stumpage value after harvest
- apply post-harvest treatment
- permit field inspections
Benefits
- management plan
- protection against over cutting
- protection against annual tax hike
- low property tax
- deferred tax until harvest
- landowners' right to close up to 80 acres of their lands to the public
- technical assistance
- permits rollover from FCL through January 1, 1998
- predictable taxes
- long-term investment
- encourages woodland expansion
- minimum land area requirement of only 10 acres
Withdrawals & Penalty
If the landowner decides to withdraw before the contract ends, or if the land is declassified, he or she is obliged to pay a penalty.
Statutes ( 39 pg. Adobe PDF File )
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