Welcome - School Forest Environmental Learning Center

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The Milaca School Forest Environmental Learning Center

A School Forest is an outdoor classroom. Students learn about math, art, science, and geography while gaining an appreciation and awareness of natural resources. School Forests build a student's self-esteem, sense of community, skill level, and knowledge base. School Forests provide students with an opportunity to develop life-long critical thinking skills as they encounter real-life situations in their forest. Student enjoy time spent outside and are engaged by the lessons.

The School Forest Program provides a variety of program benefits and support to ensure that school forests are successful, including land management and environmental education (EE) assistance.

The Milaca High School science and agriculture departments have begun a project to improve and better utilize our school forest. Milaca’s eighty-acre school forest is located one mile northwest of town. Students of Milaca Schools have been participating in tree plantings and other forestry work on portions of the site since the mid-1940s. The present expanded plot of land has been part of our school district since the early 1970s and is under state protection from development.

Recently, we have teamed up with the Department of Natural Resources to create a comprehensive forest management plan. This plan highlights the goals of the area as an environmental learning center and creates a list of priorities for enhancing the property for this purpose. These priorities include tree thinning, buckthorn control, tree planting, and the upkeep of low impact recreational trails.

To view the comprehensive forest management plan please click on the links to the left.

To view pictures of what various classes have done as part of the forest management plan also click on the links to the left