Science & Outdoors
Czysz measures pulp roadside for NewPage.
A “typical” day in the life of a forester
Science & Outdoors Reporter
David Czysz is a forester for NewPage in Rhinelander, Wis. NewPage is a landless paper company, and it is his job to obtain the wood pulp needed for their paper mills. A landless paper company is one that owns no land, but contracts with private landowners.
Czysz obtains the wood pulp by contacting private landowners, who make up 60 percent of the Wisconsin forested lands through his established networking system. Referrals from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Managed Forest Law participants and reputable logging crews are a couple of his sources.
Czysz began establishing his forest industry network as an undergraduate student at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. After graduating, he worked for Nekoosa Papers as a forester, managing the company’s land for 16 years. Nekoosa Papers was purchased by Georgia Pacific and Czysz took the severance package and returned to UW-SP.
He graduated with a Master of Science in natural resources and was hired as a procurement forester by a saw mill. In 1992, Czysz was hired by Consolidated Papers to manage their greenhouses near Monico, Wis.
When Consolidated phased out their tree planting program, Czysz was put in charge of the machine shop, site prep equipment and capital purchases budget.
Stora Enso bought the company and sold the landbase. Czysz became a stumpage buyer working with private landowners which he continues to do for NewPage after they purchased Stora Enso.
He is an active member of a number of organizations such as the Society of American Foresters and the Tree Farm program, where he receives other referrals.
New foresters with stumpage buying responsibilities need to work harder and make more cold calls for their potential wood suppliers than ever before.
After contact with a landowner, Czysz will look at the property with or without the owner and do a preliminary cruise of the property. During a cruise, he will estimate volumes, costs and prices and then present these to the landowner. If the landowner accepts the proposal, Czysz writes a contract.
He looks at soil types, wildlife and, if threatened, endangered or sensitive plant species in the area. He also uses Best Management Practices for water crossings. Property lines are verified, harvest boundaries are established and timber is marked. However, a phone call or the weather can change the plans Czysz has made for any particular day. A forester needs to be flexible.
Czysz looks for hardwoods such as oak and maple. However, other species of timber that can be used are spruce, poplar, balsam and some pine. Whatever wood NewPage does not use, Czysz looks for other markets to sell them to. Bolt material and saw logs can be sold to saw mills and, depending on the quality, these can be used for veneer, flooring or lumber.
NewPage uses loggers in the Master Logger Program for their timber sales and Czysz, and foresters like him, supervise the loggers. Czysz makes sure the timber sale is conducted according to the NewPage Environmental Management System. That system is audited by a third party certification program that makes sure the logging is conducted in an environmentally sound manner. When the timber sale is completed, Czysz makes sure the roads are left in better shape than they were originally.
The day I visited with Czysz, we scaled roadside timber for a sale that Enterprise Forest Products of Rhinelander was logging. It had to be done in that sequence in order for the loggers to have an income during spring break-up. Normally the loggers haul the wood directly to the mill and the logs are scaled there. It is obvious that a forester’s life is anything but typical.
