Trees For Tomorrow History

Trees For Tomorrow (TFT) is an independent, nonprofit natural resource specialty school which uses a combination of field studies and classroom presentations to teach conservation values as well as demonstrate the benefits of contemporary resource management.

Trees For Tomorrow is also the story of how once abandoned farms and burned over woodlands have become productive forests growing a sustainable supply of raw material, creating jobs, increasing the tax base, and providing for recreation. It is the story of how people, young and old, are learning the social and economic significance of conservation, in relation to their environment, and how to manage the renewable natural resources - forests, soil, water and wildlife. For 60 years, Tress For Tomorrow has been carrying out this service.

The Beginning

Six decades ago, thousands of acres of logged-over, burned-over forest land and fallow fields stretched across northern Wisconsin. The country was at war. Trees were needed for thousands of products essential to the Armed Forces and to civilian life. The crisis was a lack of raw wood reaching the paper and pulp mills. Wisconsin, with over 30 mills, was at the top of national production. Keeping those mills rolling on a 24-hour day was vital to the war effort. Although much local timber was available, it was not being cut. Landowners were being exhorted to harvest pulpwood. Sermons from the pulpits of the churches urged the landowners t help themselves and their government by cutting trees. Ads were placed in the newspapers calling for woodworkers. All of the lumberjacks were toting rifles in Europe and in the Pacific. Farmers, kids and old men would have to be induced to become timber beasts.

To get out the wood, the Northern Victory Pulpwood Committee started the Pulpwood Round-Up at Tomahawk, Wisconsin. One hundred trucks loaded with pulpwood rolled into town. State officials, forestry officials and executives of industry talked in the square, dramatizing the continued and urgent need for wood and good forestry. Bands played and prizes were given. It was the biggest production of pulpwood since the beginning of the war.

Because of the success of the Pulpwood Round-Up, executives of the mills said, "Why not put on a campaign for planting trees to replace those cut." The job of publicizing and working out the details was handed to a man by the name of Melvin N. Taylor. At that time, Taylor was advertising manager for the Merrill Daily Herald. "Mully", as he was called, was a home grown product. As a boy, he had seen millions of feet of pine logs come down the Wisconsin River with the spring drive. Taylor launched the pioneering organization called "Trees for Tomorrow" and held the position 31 years.

The Founders

Among the first founders were legendary names such as: Stanton Mead, N. S. Stone, D. Clark Everest, Folke Becker, Sven Bugge, Dave Smith and M.N. Taylor. As the imaginative plan unfolded, support came from other sources such as Jay Price and Vic Isola of the U.S. Forest Service; W.T. Calhoun of the Wisconsin Conservation Department; W. McNeel of the University of Wisconsin; and Fred Schmeeckle of the State College at Stevens Point. The founders were betting on the soundness of their business that small woodland owners could be convinced of economic stability through improved forest management if they were shown how. They could not change the history of the colorful past, but they could reshape the history of the future.

The original objectives were:

1. To provide a local self-sustaining wood supply for industry by encouraging small forest landowners to plant trees and practice management techniques
2. Year round employment from the woods to the mills
3. Stabilization of the tax base
4. Better watershed protection
5. And as an added benefit, Enhancement of the resource for and expanding tourist business

Early Programs

One prominent paper editorialized: "Here, if it works as outlined, will be one of the greatest aids to the state an federal conservation programs in Wisconsin ever conceived." Some were not so laudatory.

Vehement criticism came from deer hunters who foresaw more liberal harvests to reduce destruction both to new plantations and natural reproduction.

The need for expanded reforestation, the need for technical assistance to forest landowners, and the need for conservation education was very apparent. In the spring of 1944, Trees For Tomorrow launched a drive to contact all County School Superintendents and County Land Committees in the Wisconsin River Valley. This was followed by the sponsoring of a Reforestation Institute at Rhinelander, Wisconsin. There were panel discussions on practical forestry, tree planting methods, as well as discussion on maintaining water levels, techniques of fish and game management and problems of the summer resort business.

This trial institute was highly successful. Added to the many programs of the day, was a fire control demonstration, dedication of a 36-acre High School Forest with 400 high school students planting 60,000 trees, and field trips to new and old plantations, paper mills and fish hatcheries. In addition, 20,000 red pine were planted by one of the first crude handmade tree planting machines.

The "2 for 1" plan

Trees For Tomorrow recognized the need for the establishment of forests that could function as laboratories was well as commercial tracts of timber. Research brought to light the fact that 143,000 private landowners controlled 67% of the commercial forestlands of the state. 75% of the wood produced came from private lands. There was a great need for reforestation. In the spring of 1945, a "2 for 1" plan was introduced to encourage the replacement of trees cut t meet the wartime needs. Under this plan, Trees For Tomorrow offered two seedling trees for every one cut for the war. Some seedlings were surplus from a federal nursery and some seedlings were purchased from the Wisconsin Conservation Department. 800,000 trees would be distributed to landowners.

The objective of this program was to motivate landowners to improve their own forestland. Due to the general shortage of seedlings in Wisconsin and throughout the nation, only two species of trees were being offered. They were: 3-year-old Norway Pine and 2 year old Jack Pine.

The First Teacher Programs

In the summer of 1945, 40 school personnel representing high schools, teachers colleges, the University of Wisconsin, the Department of Public Instruction, the Wisconsin Conservation Department and the U.S. Forest Service gathered together at a vacant training center belonging to the Forest Service at Eagle River, Wisconsin. It was a workshop session to evaluate what so far had been accomplished and to map out a future program. The Eagle River camp was ideally located at the head of the Wisconsin River and near many conservation activities of the state and federal government, as well as paper, pulp and lumbering activities.

Concurrent with this first workshop, an Advisory Board on education was created. This new board suggested that the camp be continued and that a qualified man be assigned the job of coordinating conservation education among the many local clubs and youth groups. Officers were elected and they were: Folke Becker, President; E.B. Hurst, Vice President; C.G. McLaren, Bice President; D.B. Smith, Secretary-Treasurer and M.N. Taylor, Executive Director.

In 1946, Trees For Tomorrow camp became a permanent institution by a special use permit from the Forest Service for the Eagle River site. In defining the objectives of Trees for Tomorrow, President Folke Becker said that initial efforts would be directed toward establishing a thorough awareness among all the people of the region of the stake they have in forestry. He pointed out that education must be supplemented by actual participation in some phase of forestry by increasing numbers of people if a true forest sentiment is to be established. School forests and living memorial forests by communities must be established as well. Trees For Tomorrow opened its first summer camp in 1946.

Trees First Forester

Schoolteachers were recognized from the very beginning as an important group to begin conservation education with. The start was small - in 1946 only 7 teachers enrolled for a five-week program. On January 15, 1946, a new forester was added to the education staff. William A. Sylvester, on the staff of the Conservation Department since 1938, was employed to work out of the Eagle River office of Trees for Tomorrow.

Trees For Tomorrow had a backlog of inquiries that required the services of a forester, including the mapping of school forests and large farm woodland tracts, surveying tree planting sites, checking memorial forest sites, conducting field trips for high school forestry clubs and representing Trees For Tomorrow at farm organization meetings.

A scholarship fund was appropriated in the amount of $1,200 for the pupils of schools in the River Valley who were interested in continuing their education in Forestry.

High School seniors who ranked in the upper quarter of their class in the size qualifying counties were eligible. The $1,200 would be paid to the winner in two payments of $600 each during the first tow years at forestry school. If the winner took his pre-forestry at a school in Wisconsin, the fund would be held in trust until he entered an accredited school of his choice. John Marcouiller of Merrill High School received the first scholarship.

Early Facilities and Publications

After the first exploratory workshop for 40 educators, the first group to attend Trees For Tomorrow arranged for sugar stamps and 200 pounds of beef. High schools were adding forestry courses to their curriculum. They were planting and cutting trees in school forests all over the state. Memorial forests were being dedicated. One 280-acre tract of land was being developed as a memorial forest in honor of graduates from Wisconsin Rapids High School who had sacrificed their lives in World War II.

Landowner Assistance Programs Begin

The new exhibit building was completed on the grounds of Trees For Tomorrow in 1949. It was located at the border of the demonstration forest. It became a regular stop on lecture tours.

By 1950, Trees For Tomorrow became involved in an another landowner assistance program - the tree planting machine business. With millions of tree seedlings being distributed, landowners fount it necessary to find a more efficient method of planting them. The old tree planting trees had been around for some time, but they were designed for planting old fields and softer land. The majority of reforestation in northern Wisconsin was being done on lands that had been cut. These lands were hilly, rocky and were full of old tree stumps and roots. Bill Sylvester, along with Harry Lowther of Chicago and the Kimberly Clark Corporation, worked together to redesign three tree planting machines. These machines would function better on these "wilder" lands.

Trees For Tomorrow enlarged its staff o foresters to three and broadened their forest management services. These foresters were now drawing management plans that covered from 40 - 6,000 acres for farmers, schools, communities and absentee owners.

The main objective of Trees For Tomorrow had been accomplished and by 1960 the management services were terminated. During the span of this program, Trees For Tomorrow distributed and machine planted 23 million trees, prepared management plans for 370,000 acres of private woodlands and marked and supervised the sale of 400,000 cords of wood.

Service Organizations Contribute

In 1954, members of the Wisconsin Press Association, during one of their workshops, bought their own forest near Eagle River. It was the only forest in the country owned by a group of newspapermen. Kiwanis clubs and the Wisconsin Federation of Women's clubs helped build the Library-in-the -Woods, at the edge of the forest and raised thousands of dollars for scholarships for teachers. The printing House Craftsmen built a new approach to the dock on the river. In 1958, members of Trees For Tomorrow built a new dormitory on the grounds, bringing the Center's capacity to 72.

Women Come to Trees for Tomorrow

In 1965, the 50,000th person visited the camp. Reports on the growing interest in resource education by teacher, and the realization that the success of a large-scale conservation movement depended to a great extent on teachers.

A State Conservation Curriculum Committee was formed. The Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs attended a workshop and tour of "Trees". While there, they voted to continue awarding the ten $100 scholarships for teachers attending the 3-week summer workshops as well as the five and a half-week course. The Wisconsin Federation of Business and Professional Women's clubs attended their first state conservation workshop at Trees For Tomorrow and 42 women attended from all parts of the state. More and more, women were taking an active role in conservation programs and putting it in their club activities. The George Washington Memorial Forest was purchased and dedicated by the Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs in 1932. It was maintained and financed totally by the women.

Trees For Tomorrow Trains Loggers

On June 19, 1966, 35 future loggers, ranging in age from 17 to 23 and more screened from more than 50 who applied, went into the northern Wisconsin woods. They would start the first on the job training for loggers in the Lake States. Initiated by Trees For Tomorrow and sponsored by the Wisconsin Woods Industry Study Committee, the training course was set up to provide careers for boys with special wood skills, improve the image of the logger, and to ease the shortage of wood workers. Funding was under the Manpower Training and Development Act.

Education is the Key

At the beginning of the third decade, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey installed a hydrologic station on the Trees For Tomorrow grounds, its delicate instruments recording ground water data for students to study. The University of Wisconsin Madison set up a dendrograph on a Norway pine at the edge of the forest to show changes in the radius of a tree due to moisture and growth.

Recruiting began for the first career workshop for boys interested in forestry. The American Forestry Association was cosponsor. Later, Trees for Tomorrow's cosponsors were: The University of Wisconsin Madison, Michigan State and Iowa State Universities. Girls were beginning to make up half of the enrollment.

The name of the camp is changed to Trees For Tomorrow Environmental Center. The main office is moved from Merrill to Eagle River, and the entire emphasis is put on environmental education.

60 years of Success

Trees For Tomorrow acquired Northbound Magazine, a regional publication dealing with northern Wisconsin in March 1984. The magazine was purchased from Dale Baggerly who stayed on as editor for a short time. With the merger of Trees For Tomorrow and Northbound, it was hoped that they could expand the organization's capacity to deal with resource oriented issues.

What started out as an organization concerned primarily with reforestation has become a center for studying today's complex resource issues.

At Trees for Tomorrow, experts were showing people how resource management worked. Young and old people alike were taken by the hand into a work-a-day environment. The most important thing that has been done was to talk to hundreds of thousands of people about using natural resources wisely.

Trees For Tomorrow's 60th birthday is June 11, 2004 which will coincide with the second annual Golf Classic. The goal of the event will bee to locate and invite alumni and former staff who have played a role in shaping "Trees for Tomorrow" and for whom "Trees" has had an effect on lifestyle, career, plans, etc. An all day open house and serve yourself picnic would also feature a brief formal ceremony.