CHAPTER 26
PROTECTION OF FOREST LANDS AND FOREST PRODUCTIVITY
26.03 Cutting forest products.
26.06 Enforcement, seizure and sale of materials.
26.07 Money, how disposed of.
26.08 Leases and licenses.
26.09 Civil liability for unlawful cutting, removal and transport.
26.10 Reports by the department to the board of commissioners of public lands.
26.11 Forest fires; department jurisdiction; procedure.
26.12 Forest protection areas, organization, emergency fire wardens, county cooperation, setting fire.
26.13 Town fire wardens; duties, expenses.
26.14 Forest fires, authority of fire fighters, compensation, penalties, civil liability.
26.15 Responsibility of wardens and citizens.
26.18 District attorneys to prosecute.
26.19 Destruction of forest protection equipment or notices.
26.20 Fire protection devices.
26.205 Tractors, spark arresters.
26.21 Civil liability for forest fires.
26.30 Forest insects and diseases; department jurisdiction; procedure.
26.35 Forest productivity.
26.36 Forest energy resources.
26.37 Lake states wood utilization consortium.
26.97 Law enforcement and police power.
26.985 Penalties, repeaters.
26.99 Parties to a violation.
Ch. 26 Cross-reference
Cross-reference: See definitions in s.
24.01.
26.01
26.01
Definition. In this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise "department" means the department of natural resources.
26.03
26.03
Cutting forest products. 26.03(1)(a)(a) Before any person cuts, or causes to be cut any logs, piling, poles, posts, pulpwood, Christmas trees or other forest products, except fuel wood for personal home consumption, in, upon or adjoining any forest or wild land area the person shall pay all delinquent taxes on the land and each year shall mail a notice in the English language giving his or her name and post-office address, and listing all the lands upon which cutting is to be done, designating the lands upon which cutting is to be done by each 40 acre governmental subdivision or fraction of a 40 acre governmental subdivision with the proper section, town and range, by registered letter addressed to the county clerk of each county in which the land is located. The county clerk shall mail a copy of the notice to the town chairperson of each town in which lands upon which forest products are to be cut under this paragraph are located, and to the county treasurer, who shall forthwith determine whether the county holds tax certificates or tax deeds to any of the land listed in the notice, and if the county treasurer so finds, the county treasurer shall take action to collect the unpaid taxes represented by county-owned tax certificates or to prevent cutting on land to which the county holds a tax deed or tax certificate. This section shall not apply to cutting on public lands, as defined under
s. 70.13 (7), or to cutting for the purpose of clearing the land for agricultural use or to a person who may cut up to 5 Christmas trees on the person's own property for his or her own use, providing that he or she can prove that his or her real estate taxes for the previous calendar year have been paid.
26.03(1)(b)
(b) No purchaser of Indian reservation land or land to be placed upon the tax roll for the first time shall cut or cause to be cut any logs, piling, posts, poles, pulpwood, Christmas trees or other forest products, except fuel wood for personal home consumption, from such land without first recording the instrument by which title to such land was acquired in the office of the register of deeds for the county in which such land is located.
26.03(2)
(2) Penalties. Whoever violates this section shall forfeit not more than $50.
26.05
26.05
Timber theft. 26.05(1)(1)
Definition. As used in this section, "raw forest products" means forest products not altered by a manufacturing process off the land from which they are taken. This term includes logs, pilings, posts, poles, cordwood products, pulpwood, fuel wood and Christmas trees.
26.05(2)
(2) Consent of owner required. No person may cut, remove or transport raw forest products or direct the cutting, removal or transportation of raw forest products without the consent of the owner.
26.05(3)(a)(a) A person who violates this section or a rule promulgated under this section is subject to a forfeiture of not less than $100 nor more than $10,000.
26.05(3)(b)
(b) Instead of the forfeiture provided under
par. (a), a person who intentionally violates this section may be punished under
s. 943.20 for theft.
26.05(3)(c)
(c) In addition to any other penalty, a person who violates this section or a rule promulgated under this section is liable for the reasonable costs incurred to establish the volume and value of the raw forest products cut, removed or transported.
26.05 History
History: 1981 c. 67.
26.06
26.06
Enforcement, seizure and sale of materials. 26.06(1)(1) Foresters, forest supervisors, rangers and wardens of the department and the cruisers and foresters of the board of commissioners of public lands have the enforcement powers specified in
s. 26.97 with respect to, and may seize, without process, any forest products unlawfully severed from public lands of the state, federal lands leased to the state, county forest lands entered under
s. 28.11, forest croplands entered under
subch. I of ch. 77 or managed forest land designated under
subch. VI of ch. 77. Seized products cut from lands under the control of the board of commissioners of public lands shall be held for the commissioners and those cut from forest croplands, managed forest land or county forest shall be held for the owner, and subject to the payment of severance taxes, yield taxes or severance share thereon to the state. Products cut from state forest lands or federal lands leased to the department shall be appraised and sold. Products appraised at more than $500 shall be sold on sealed bids not less than 10 days after a class 1 notice has been published, under
ch. 985, in the county where the material is located. Any sheriff may seize and hold for the owner thereof any forest products unlawfully severed or removed.
26.06(2)
(2) Any person who, without the consent of a person legally able to give consent, removes any seized products or removes or defaces a seizure notice of the department or of any sheriff shall forfeit not more than $50.
26.06(3)
(3) Any person who transports, receives or conceals any forest products, knowing the same to have been unlawfully severed from the lands of another, shall be liable to the owner for double the value thereof and in addition shall be punished as provided in
s. 943.34 (1).
26.07
26.07
Money, how disposed of. All money received from the sale of logs, lumber, shingles, timber, minerals or other articles seized under this chapter, or recovered in legal proceedings for damages done the public lands, shall be paid into the treasury to the credit of the respective funds to which the lands belong on which such trespasses were committed, and all other money collected as expenses, fees, penalties and damages for trespass on such lands shall be paid into the general fund.
26.08
26.08
Leases and licenses. 26.08(1)(1) The department may, from time to time, lease parts or parcels of state park lands or state forest lands. These leases shall contain proper covenants to guard against trespass and waste. The rents arising from these leases shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the proper fund. Licenses also may be granted to prospect for ore or mineral upon any of these lands; but proper security shall be taken that the licensees will fully inform the department of every discovery of ore or mineral and will restore the surface to its former condition and value if no discovery of valuable deposits is made. The department shall retain a copy of each lease or license and file the original in the office of the board of commissioners of public lands.
26.08(2)(a)(a) Except as provided under
par. (b) the department may lease state park land or state forest land for terms not exceeding 15 years.
26.08(2)(b)
(b) The department may lease Rib Mountain state park lands and Willow river state park lands for terms not exceeding 30 years.
26.08(3)
(3) The department shall furnish to the board of commissioners of public lands such maps, plats, surveys, valuations, information and other services as the board may request respecting any of the public lands, for use by it in granting leases or licenses or in making sales under
s. 24.39.
26.08 History
History: 1979 c. 34;
1987 a. 27.
