Oshkosh – Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) made these remarks supporting the signing of the Good Neighbor agreement Thursday:

“I am pleased that the U.S. Forest Service has finalized a master agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to expand Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) inside the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.  

“GNA was reauthorized and extended nationwide in 2014 to allow the Forest Service to contract with states to better manage their federal forestland.  I expect the agreement announced today to bear fruit quickly, as the state will soon be able to move forward with new contracts to aid our timber industry, while preserving forest health. 

“I have traveled around northern Wisconsin to discuss forestry issues with Wisconsinites, and Good Neighbor Authority has often been touted as a useful tool that will lead to a more sustainable and profitable forest.  With the eventual addition of hundreds of new timber industry jobs, these additional timber sales will certainly bring a noticeable economic boost to northern Wisconsin.

“By some estimations, there are 350 million board feet of available National Environmental Policy Act-approved timber in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest alone.   Despite Thursday’s announcement that more than 100 million will now be eligible for harvest in 2016, there is much more work to be done. 

“Because the timber industry is the lifeblood of the Northern Wisconsin economy, I will continue pushing the Forest Service to allow the annual timber harvests in Wisconsin’s national forest to increase at a faster pace.”

###