Because my parents have a lake cabin in northern Wisconsin, I’ve been very aware of the recent rapid growth in development and property values in the Upper Midwest’s north woods. Where once our small lake had large stretches of farmland or undeveloped forest around it, it’s now ringed almost entirely by lots with houses. And the new houses are not the old three-season cabins like ours. They’re usually large and very expensive homes. Property taxes have also gone up considerably as the value of the land increases, making it difficult for many property owners to pay their taxes—a fact that my father and uncle have repeated to me many times over.

In October the Star Tribune published “Land Rush,??? a series of articles on changes such as these in northern Minnesota. The series highlights a number of concerns, including the development or sale of forest that has long been owned and managed for timber production by private companies; the demand for homes in the region (often vacation homes); and the rapid escalation of property values and property taxes, which have driven many long-time residents out of their homes.

It’s clear to me that these changes are fueled by the tremendous wealth generated in our society among the upper class. Many people have a lot of money to spend, and they want a vacation or retirement home on a lake or in the woods. I can’t criticize them for wanting such a home, particularly since my family has enjoyed the cabin that my own grandfather, father, and uncle built fifty years ago.

But what seems different now is the pace and scale of change. There are more people in the region now and greater pressures on the environment. Technology also allows development and construction to occur at a faster pace, and it increases the demands each individual makes on the environment.

For these reasons, the newspaper’s concluding editorial for the series, published November 6, seems to strike the right balance: change is inevitable, but it should occur in ways that protect the natural environment that drew people to the region in the first place. Both the editorial and an opinion piece published the same day point to one positive response to the changes up north: creation of the Minnesota Forest Legacy Partnership, a public-private partnership designed to preserve forests.

I welcome the Star Tribune’s focus on these issues, and I hope that it leads to additional measures that protect the north woods.

(See also a map of the region discussed in “Land Rush.” [It takes quite a while to load in the browser.])

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2005 at 5:43 am and is filed under Environment and Ecology, Minnesota.