When 114 red pines were bulldozed inside Red Lake Wildlife Management Area last year to create new habitat, infuriated Minnesota timber industry officials denounced the trees' felling as "destruction" and a "slap in the face."
"When viable timber harvests are withheld, loggers do not work," a Minnesota Forest Industries and Minnesota Timber Producers Association official wrote to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) commissioner's office.
The trade groups also questioned whether Gretchen Mehmel, the longtime DNR biologist who managed the wildlife area, should keep her job.
