MENOMINEE COUNTY, Wisconsin — In northeast Wisconsin, the Menominee forest feels like an elixir, and a marvel. …Yet over the last 160 years, much of this forest has been chopped down and regrown nearly three times. The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, its stewards, have pulled nearly two hundred million cubic feet of timber from this land since 1854… yet the forest has more trees on the same acreage than it did a century and a half ago. …But today the tribe’s younger members are interested in the painstaking, difficult handcutting that is the hallmark of the tribe’s sustainability practices. The tribe has fallen short of its targeted annual harvest by more than half, threatening the viability of its historic sawmill [and] the labor shortage threatens the tribe’s way of life. …Foresters routinely study the Menominee land, which has been recognized by the United Nations and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. [to access the full story a NY Times subscription is required]