“Our customers have a large amount of forest land,” says Goldstar Cooperative’s General Manager Larry Wojchik. “But as a resource, woodland is often overlooked and not maximized to its full potential.” The cooperative is headquartered in Amery, Wisconsin, and serves the Northwestern area of the state widely covered by forest land.
Goldstar, a traditional farm supply cooperative, recognized the potential value their members were literally sitting on in the thousands of acres of forest land that could create new revenue streams for landowners from the production of various byproducts like woodchips, wood shavings and mulch. Landowners would also benefit from receiving information on sustainable resource management practices to ensure the continued health of their forests for years to come.
CDS helped Goldstar obtain an Early Planning Grant from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce to fund a study identifying the potential of producing value-added products from existing forestland and, in turn, provide information to landowners on sustainable forestry management through a partnership with the Living Forest Cooperative, headquartered in Ashland, Wisconsin. Living Forest Cooperative helps landowners prepare forest stewardship (management) plans and pools member harvests and explores production opportunities for value-added wood products.
The study indicated there is enough volume out there to make some of these concepts work by producing mulching and composting products, Wojchik says, but it takes a lot of assembled acreage to bring in a custom operator to do the processing.
Goldstar has been working to inform their members of the revenue possibilities and the management programs offered through Living Forest Cooperative. CDS also provided the cooperative with information regarding woodland management and put a brochure together for their members.
Goldstar developed a survey card for their agronomists to fill out when visiting with members to determine if landowners are: 1) interested in managing their forest to reduce their tax burden, 2) use their land for recreational purposes or, 3) interested in harvesting timber. The postcard then gets forwarded to Living Forest Cooperative for follow-up with landowners.
“The thinking was that over time, as we get more acres enrolled in these programs we could produce some value-added products through timber harvesting like wood chips and mulch. All those different forestry products have value if you can develop the markets and the raw material sources,” Wojchik says, “but it takes size and scale to go to end users to negotiate favorable pricing.”
CDS continues to work with Goldstar on this project. “CDS has been a great resource for us,” Wojchik says.
CDS Project Consultant
E.G. Nadeau
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