Logging equipment and heaps of timber will continue to be seen along Morgan Marsh Road.
The Morgan Marsh Wildlife Area, owned by the Oconto County Sportsmen Alliance, looks shockingly different.
Clear cutting began Jan. 7, and if frigid weather continues, will be finished in a few weeks.
“Hopefully we’re done the first week of February,” said Andy Angus, the logger overseeing the project.
The Wisconsin DNR prescribed the forest management plan, which entails about 35 acres of clearcut. Most of the timber harvest will take place on the north side of Morgan Marsh Road, except for a 5-acre block to be harvested along the snowmobile trail south of the road.
The last time timber was harvested in the marsh was 1984.
“They’re cutting it at the perfect time,” Angus said. “They’re getting it before it starts to get punky, because the average life expectancy of aspen (poplar) is about 40-45 years old. That’s when it is biologically mature.”
It is estimated to yield 700 cords of wood. The majority of the harvest is poplar, and a few are ash trees infected with emerald ash borer, as well as birch.
“The only thing we’re leaving are any pine trees and any oaks (and soft maples) that we come across,” Angus said.
In the midst of the clearing, a large cottonwood tree survived because of an attached ladder-stand.
Logging underway at Morgan Marsh Wildlife Area
