2003 Forest Stewardship Award
Presented to
Menominee Tribal Enterprises
Neopit, Wisconsin
In recognition of proven excellence in practicing and promoting Forest Stewardship through public education, landowner assistance, political Leadership, sustainable forest management and efficient resource utilization.
Menominee Tribal Enterprises has demonstrated a corporate commitment to the long-term conservation of our natural resources.
Original,hand-crafted bald eagle by H.D. Moss,Jackson,TN
National Hardwood Lumber Association
Menominee Tribal Enterprises of Neopit, WI is the recipient of the 2003 Forest Stewardship Award, presented by the National Hardwood Lumber Assoication (NLHA).
Menominee Head Forester Marshall Pecore and Sales Manager James Kaquatosh were on hand to receive the award Sept. 20, 2003, during the Grand Finale Dinner of NHLA's annual convention, held this year in Atlanta. Ted Rowe, Jr., NHLA's Second Vice President, made the presentation.
The National Hardwood Lumber Association is a non-profit trade association composed of companies which produce, sell, or use North American hardwood lumber, or provide services to the industry. NHLA was founded in 1898 to establish a uniform system of grading rules for the today has more than 1700 member companies.
A five-judge panel made up of NHLA board members, academic experts, and industry insiders has selected this year's winner. The five areas considered by the judges for this award are:
1.) public education,
2.) political involvement
3.) private landowner education,
4.) forest stewardship on-the-ground,and
5.) efficient resource utilization
In presenting the award, Rowe praised the Menominee for striking a balance--making a livelihood from the harvest of timber while remaining stewards of the land for future generations.
"Visitors driving through the Menominee Forest in Wisconsin may believe it to be pristine and untouched," Rowe said. "In reality, it is one of the most intensively managed tracts of forest in the Great Lakes region."
Over the last 140 years, since the formation of the Menominee Reservation, the Menominee have removed more than two and one half billion board feet of sawtimber, yet the volume of standing timber now is greater than in the 1854, the year the Wolf Creek Treaty created the Menominee Reservation.
At the time, the American government left the Menominee people with land they deemed to be poor farmland, and it was. But the Menominee turned to timber harvesting as a way of life and a source of steady revenue, always with an eye toward the future. They took a long-term view, you might say: A 150 year planning horizon!
Nowhere else in Wisconsin can you drive for miles and miles of highway lined with nearly 30 tree species, Rowe said, including towering old white pines, 12 distinct habitat types, and a diversity of wildlife and plants.
From the beginning, the Menominee were committed to a management process that would achieve an ongoing balance, year after year, between natural growth and mortality on the one hand, and the production of timber on the other.
The Menominee Nation applies the principles of Sustainable Yield Forestry - SYF - to the land it manages. That forest today - easily distinguished from the surrounding farmland when seen in NASA photographs taken from space - is a living testimony to the wisdom of a people who are committed to state-of-the-art forestry priniciples.
In addition to making the best of their own land, the Menominee people are committed to educating people about sustainable forestry. They are happy to arrange guided tours of their land for visitors.
The award itself is a hand-carved bald eagle from national award-winning wildlife artist Dee Moss, of Jackson, TN.
The eagle is carved from the root-wood of a Swamp Tupelo, and is mounted on a piece of driftwood that, in turn, stands on a custom-made walnut base. The eagle was chosen as the award piece because of its significance in the North American landscape and its symbolism of environmental stewardship.
PRESS RELEASE FROM NATIONAL HARDWOOD FOREST STEWARDSHIP