John Schwarzmann News Today

By tanka dhakal, Wisconsin Watch   Wearing blue jeans, a short-sleeved button-down shirt and a look of dismay, John Schwarzmann stood near the shore of Whitney Lake in Vilas County, ...

A retired forester and a writer say the DNR allows logging perilously close to lakes. State officials disagree. Now the agency’s auditor is being audited.

Wearing blue jeans, a short-sleeved button-down shirt and a look of dismay, John Schwarzmann stood near the shore of Whitney Lake in Vilas County, Wisconsin. He didn’t like what he saw so close to the shallow waters: too few trees still standing and too many stumps that loggers left behind.

A retired forester and a writer say the DNR allows logging perilously close to lakes. State officials disagree. Now the agency’s auditor is being audited.

Four companies on a DNR committee creating new forestry rules purchased timber harvested near lakes where those rules were allegedly broken.

The DNR is updating its logging rules, raising concerns among activists that shorelines and wildlife habitats will lose protection.