So what do the different colors mean that people will find out there?

Yeah, so we kind of got different classifications that we use the colors for.

Let's start with boundaries.

So if you are walking around near your house and your house comes up next to state land, you might see some blue paint show up sometimes.

That means to the logger, this is the private boundary do not cross this line we want to make sure that they stay on state land when they are doing timber sale operations so blue means private land don't go there red paint is another boundary line but that's for like when uh state land touches state land or something where it's the same ownership we're just saying like okay cut the stuff to this side of the line don't cross the line because that timber is not ready or it's a different type or there's some other rules so red red and blue just generally mean don't cross this line

yeah um if there's like you know paintings around but maybe not every tree is marked does that mean that those trees won't be touched

Yeah, great question.

It can vary.

So going off that, so why would you do a clear cut?

So, yeah, I clear.

So if we were clear cutting and removing all of the trees, we are doing that to grow back a specific either specific tree or a specific group of trees.

And the important thing to know is like when we see a bunch of trees get cut, we're not just doing that for fun.

It's a very science based approach using the Wisconsin Civil Culture Guide.

We're using a decision metric to grow back as many of the highest quality trees as we possibly can.

So for something like when you see all the trees that are gone, we're going to be growing back a specific type of tree, say aspen, that needs as much sunlight on the ground as possible to grow back.

So like how, how are you ensuring that this is what's getting regenerated in these?

What happens if a tree, you know, those tests come back or, you know, that tree is infected with oak wilt? What does that mean for the tree and maybe ones around it?

Yeah, that's where things get a little difficult because of how oak wilt works.

It attacks, like I said earlier, the vascular system of the tree.

So it travels through the water network.

But that doesn't just mean the top of the tree.

It'll also pass down through the roots and go all the way down into the ground.

And a really kind of interesting thing about oak trees is that they will graft their roots to other oak trees in the ground in the stand of timber that they share.

And how does oak wilt maybe compare to some of the other diseases you deal with in the forest in terms of future outlook after it comes through?