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.
26.09
26.09
Civil liability for unlawful cutting, removal and transport. In addition to the other penalties and costs, any person unlawfully cutting, removing or transporting raw forest products is liable to the owner or to the county holding a tax certificate, or to the board of commissioners of public lands holding a land contract certificate under
ch. 24, to the land on which the unlawful cutting was done or from which it was removed, in a civil action, for double the amount of damages suffered. This section does not apply to the cutting, removal and transporting of timber for the emergency repair of a highway, fire lane or bridge upon or adjacent to the land.
26.09 History
History: 1981 c. 67.
26.09 Annotation
Double damages under this section are not "punitive damages". Hartland Cicero Mut. Ins. Co. v. Elmer, 122 W (2d) 481, 363 NW (2d) 252 (Ct. App. 1984).
26.10
26.10
Reports by the department to the board of commissioners of public lands. The department shall report monthly to the board of commissioners of public lands all trespasses committed, all materials seized, all sales made and all moneys received under
ss. 26.01 to
26.09.
26.11
26.11
Forest fires; department jurisdiction; procedure. 26.11(1)(1) The department is vested with power, authority and jurisdiction in all matters relating to the prevention, detection and suppression of forest fires outside the limits of incorporated villages and cities in the state except as provided in
sub. (2), and to do all things necessary in the exercise of such power, authority and jurisdiction.
26.11(2)
(2) The term "forest fire" as used in this chapter means uncontrolled, wild, or running fires occurring on forest, marsh, field, cutover or other lands or involving farm, city or village property and improvements incidental to the uncontrolled, wild or running fires occurring on forest, marsh, field, cutover or other lands.
26.11(3)
(3) The department shall direct and give suitable instructions to and obtain reports as directed from, the entire fire warden force of the state whether in officially established forest protection areas or elsewhere, and it may move about or concentrate the fire warden force as occasion demands.
26.11(4)
(4) The department may enter into arrangements or agreements and cooperate with town boards, county boards or committees thereof, with individuals, concerns, corporations or associations, for the purpose of improving the protection against forest fires.
26.11(5)
(5) The department may, upon request from the fire chief of a city or village, or the chief executive thereof, supply assistance within the limits of its resources in suppressing a forest fire within the confines of said municipality.
26.11(6)
(6) The department, as the director of the effort, may suppress a forest fire on lands located outside the boundaries of intensive or extensive forest fire protection districts but not within the limits of any city or village if the town responsible for suppressing fires within its boundaries spends more than $3,000, as determined by rates established by the department, on suppressing the forest fire and if the town chairperson makes a request to the department for assistance. Persons participating in the suppression efforts shall act at the direction of the department after the department begins suppression efforts under this subsection. Funds expended by the state under this subsection shall be drawn from the appropriation under
s. 20.370 (1) (mu).
