Dear John, 

Meet the pine marten. Pretty cute, right? It’s part of the weasel family, and Wisconsin’s only state-endangered mammal. Only an estimated 160 still exist in Wisconsin. They make their home in northern Wisconsin, including in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF).

The U.S. Forest Service has been logging in the CNNF for pulp for paper products, threatening not only the pine marten, but many mature and old-growth trees which are valuable carbon sinks and a critical climate solution.  

ELPC is on the ground in Wisconsin fighting these timber sales and advocating for stronger protections for mature and old-growth forests.  

The Climate Forests Coalition’s 2022 Worth More Standing report highlighted a logging project in the CNNF as one of ten urgent logging projects targeting mature and old-growth trees in federal forests. It noted that two-thirds of the stands in the 12,000-acre CNNF project are more than 80 years old. ELPC staff documented this logging on the ground.

We have to protect these special places – for endangered animals like the pine marten and for our climate health.

The CNNF in Northern Wisconsin is a special place, and we are working to protect it. Donate today and help unlock our $25,000 SUMMER MATCH.  

Thank you!