The Partners In Forestry Cooperative based in Vilas county is challenging an effort to sell off county-owned tracks of land. A proposal by county board member and realtor Jerry Burkett is to sell many parcels that he said were odds and ends of county land.
In an editorial, Joe Hovel from Conover says the proposal could end up damaging the county forest and possibly costing jobs. In the section called large parcels, Hovel says much of that land under review abuts other county land, and selling it could speed the fragmentation of the forest...
"....it shows an absolute ignorance for the economic, social and environmental values of the county forest. This proposal also ignores county forest law and ignores the decades of investment into developing a well-managed forest...."
He says the proposal ignores county forest law and decades of investment the county has made on the parcels. Hovel maintains that land is critical to maintain a healthy forest and sustainable forestry that also creates jobs.
He says another provision would be a violation of a potential buyer's property rights...
"....I really found troubling in this proposal to privatize the county forest lands that (the county) control the buyer's private property rights by putting deed restrictions to prevent the buyer from entering into the Managed Forest Law program....
Hovel says the proposal could lead to an even higher number of homes in a market that he says is depressed with distressed prices.
