The Village of Hobart has adopted a wood harvest program to help clean up about 20 acres of land damaged by a 2022 summer storm. PC: Fox 11 Online
HOBART, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Village of Hobart continues to deal with storm damage from nearly two years ago. And with tight budgets, village officials have come up with a creative way to deal with the mess, that benefits both the village and residents.
There’s about 20 acres of land, in the Centennial Centre area of Hobart, that is still a mess following a June 2022 storm.
“It is an eye sore, as you can plainly see, it’s an eyesore to the village and it can be a hazard for people walking through the woods,” said Director of Public Works Jerry Lancelle.
Downed trees have piled up on one another, leaving a less than ideal situation.
With several development projects schedule for the area, the village, which owns the property, wanted to clean up the mess.
The project, however, is too big to handle in-house.
According to Lancelle, “Our staffing doesn’t allow us. And, timewise, could we? Yes, but it would take years for our staff to remove these trees.”
The village reached out to several contractors, looking to have the downed trees cleared.
“We want to get these wooded areas regenerated. We want to see them growing and we’ve got to get the deadwood out of here,” said Aaron Kramer, Hobart’s administrator.
But, when the price tag for the removal came in at about $150,000, village officials knew they had to come up with another idea.
Earlier this week, village board approved a wood harvest permit program.
According to Kramer, “People want wood, people know how to run a chainsaw, we’re not going to charge you, take what you want. Simple solution.”
Open only to Hobart residents, they can apply for a free wood harvest permit. The permit allows residents to come into these areas and take as much wood, from the downed trees as they’d like, for free.
The trees would be for recreational, non-commercial use only , so things like firewood or maybe even wood carving.
“You can take out as little as you want, as much as you want,” said Kramer. He added, “We just expect an invitation to the big, large s’mores parties that are going to be held in Hobart later this summer. I can’t tell you what the species are, but I’m certain there’s some good wood in there, in terms of, oak and some nicer wood and there’s some stuff you’re just going to throw in a campfire.”
Village officials said, depending on the response they get from residents, the wood harvest program could be open to the general public this fall.
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