DULUTH—As part of a national partnership, the U.S. Forest Service and Natural Resource Conservation Service are coordinating technical resources and funds totaling $200,000 to support forest restoration efforts along the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Since much of the North Shore is in private ownership, a concerted effort between public and private landowners is essential to achieving forest restoration at a landscape scale. Thanks to this new partnership, agency personnel will be jointly dedicated to coordinating small-scale work on private land with larger-scale activities on National Forest System land. Through consolidation, treatments will be more economical and seamless.
In the North Shore project, restoring long-lived conifers and other native species is critical to developing a forest that is resilient in the face of climate change and other disturbances. By improving the health and resiliency of the forest landscape, this effort will help to protect tributary streams, mitigate wildfire threats, providewildlife and fish habitat, and maintain the visual corridor along Hwy. 61, a National and State Scenic Byway.
This project is part of a larger landscape restoration effort along the North Shore of Lake Superior beingled by the North Shore Forest Collaborative. The Collaborative is made up of more than 30 entities that are committed to large-scale restoration of the lakeside forest, including: Tribal, federal, state and county agencies; non-profit organizations; and private landowners.
