The Chequamegon-Nicolet
National Forest is located in Wisconsin's
Northwoods, covering over a million
and a half acres. The Chequamegon
side of the forest covers about 858,400
acres in Ashland, Bayfield, Sawyer,
Price, Taylor, and Vilas counties
while the Nicolet side covers nearly
661,400 acres in Florence, Forest,
Langlade, Oconto, Oneida, and Vilas
counties.
Since 1993, these
two national forests have been managed
as one, with headquarters offices
in both Park Falls and Rhinelander.
Each national forest has retained
its individual identity. As one example,
visitors driving across the state,
from east to west on US Highway 70,
will first see portal signs near Florence
welcoming them to the Nicolet National
Forest, then signs welcoming them
to the Chequamegon National Forest,
west of Minocqua.
National forests are
divided into administrative units
called ranger districts. The Chequamegon
side of the forest comprises three
districts. As with the forests themselves,
several ranger districts were combined.
The Glidden and Hayward ranger districts
combined into the Great Divide Ranger
District with district headquarters
offices located at Glidden and at
Hayward. The Medford and Park Falls
ranger districts have also been combined
into a single district, with headquarters
offices at Park Falls and Medford
The Nicolet side of
the forest comprises two ranger districts.
The Eagle River and Florence ranger
districts have been combined into
a single unit - the Eagle River-Florence
Ranger District, with ranger stations
located in each of those towns. The
Lakewood and Laona ranger districts
have also been combined into a single
unit, called the Lakewood-Laona Ranger
District. District headquarters offices
are located in both Lakewood and Laona
at the old ranger office sites.
