Pilfered trees, native mistletoe and life under the ice in the December issue of Wisconsin Natural Resources

In the seasonal story, the Grinch steals the holiday tree, but timber theft is a very real concern that doesn’t have a happy ending. The crime takes many forms from dark-of-the-night theft, cutting across private property lines and failure to pay in full for harvested timber. In the December issue of Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine, Gary Bibow, DNR forestry law enforcement specialist, explains the many ways timber is stolen and how woodlot owners can avoid becoming a victim.

Exact numbers of timber theft cases are hard to quantify. Some cases are reported to local law enforcement and the DNR but many times the theft is unreported because the landowner is not immediately aware trees are missing or logging totals have been misreported and the landowner doesn’t realize when they are shorted.

“I’ve been involved in timber theft investigations from Rock County to Ashland County,” Bibow says. Read how landowners can better protect their stand or woodlot from theft in the story “When You Can’t See the Missing Trees From the Forest.”

Another feature, “The Season’s Tiny Tot,” introduces readers to Wisconsin’s smallest native shrub. Only an inch high, eastern dwarf mistletoe (our only native mistletoe), slowly parasitizes small patches of northern spruces, but it can benefit the forest habitat, too.

In the story “Nature’s Architects and Engineers” readers will marvel at the materials, design and construction that insects, birds and mammals build into their nests, webs, dams and nurseries.

The cloistered world of how fish survive life under the ice is explored in “A Cold World With an Icy Ceiling.”

And “Road Map to the Right Place at the Right Time,” celebrates the completion of the Great Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail series that is encouraging ecotourism, green travel and outdoor exploration.

Find all this in the December issue of Wisconsin Natural Resources. Subscribers can receive six colorful issues delivered to their door all year for less than $1.50 a copy. All year long the magazine shares the hot spots at the hot times to enjoy the Wisconsin outdoors for only $8.97. Subscribe toll-free at 1-800-678-9472, online at [www.wnrmag.com] or by mail. Subscription blanks and single issues are also available from our circulation office at PO Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707.

source....