Wisconsin Elk Habitat Work Keeps Public-Land Openings on the Map

Wisconsin’s northern elk country is getting the kind of habitat work that actually puts food on the ground.

In the Great Divide Ranger District of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, RMEF and its partners have put more than half a million dollars into enhancing elk habitat since 2006. This is dense forest country, and without openings, big game can lose the grasses, forbs, and young growth they need.

The current system tracks 265 wildlife openings across 762 acres, including acreage tied to the old decommissioned U.S. Navy ELF communication line corridors. Crews are working to maintain those openings on a four-year rotation with mowing, woody vegetation removal, weed treatments, prescribed burning, and seeding or planting native grasses and forbs.

That work is not just for elk. Whitetails, ruffed grouse, woodcock, small mammals, birds, pollinators, and every hunter who values healthy public ground benefit from managed openings. The area is also open for hunting, wildlife viewing, hiking, and other public recreation.

This is the part of conservation that does not fit on a bumper sticker. Habitat has to be cut, burned, seeded, mapped, maintained, and paid for. If we want elk, deer, grouse, and public-land opportunity, we cannot just lock the gate and call it good. We have to manage the ground like wildlife depends on it, because it does.