Stanley W. Welsh
(1913-1983)
Inducted October 19, 1994
Plaque Engraving:
Professional forester, administrator and leader in Wisconsin forestry, S. W. Welsh dedicated 41 years of distinguished service to forestry in Wisconsin. He began his career as a forester for the Wisconsin Conservation Department in 1936 at Gordon, Wisconsin. He later served as Chief State Forester and Division Administrator. Stan Welsh was instrumental in providing early professional forestry assistance to Wisconsin’s county forests which today contain the largest block of professionally managed public forest land in Wisconsin. His early leadership to the Private Forestry Assistance program provided the foundation for Wisconsin’s nationally recognized Cooperative Forest Management program today.
More about Stanley W. Welsh:
Mr. Welsh spent his entire professional career with the Wisconsin Conservation Department and the Department of Natural Resources. His major accomplishments were in the area of state-county relations and the leadership that established the state wide forest inventory in 1950.
Welsh began his career as a county forester in Douglas County in 1941, went into the military in 1943, and on his return was made assistant to the late F. G. Wilson in the Cooperative Forestry Division. He worked to persuade Wisconsin to provide foresters for all of the then 24 counties in the County Forest Program. This effort started slowly and today is a model for the country in public land management forestry.
Mr. Welsh was the force behind the state wide forest inventory in 1950 working in with the U.S. Forest Service Experiment Station in St. Paul, Minnesota. This massive undertaking was completed in 1958. His work also led to the establishment of a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to cost share foresters assigned to farm forestry districts.
Stanley Welsh was very active in the field of Legislative Policy Affairs. He is credited for many accomplishments including: The drafting of laws to revise the County Forest Program in 1968, leading the U.S. Forest Service in an effort to pass constitutional amendments allowing funds for forestry to come from sources other than the property tax, developing policies to assure cooperation between foresters, successfully helping draft legislation to establish a state tree nursery in southern Wisconsin to provide hardwood species and wild life shrubs for southern soil types and plant communities, and he led the way for the Woodland Tax Law rules and regulations in 1953.
In recogn1t1on of his team leadership and professional accomplishments, the Department of Natural Resources and Bureau of Forestry has established an annual S. W. Welsh award that is presented to a work unit in the Department which has demonstrated exceptional forestry accomplishments through team effort.
