ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) -- The U-S Forest Service plans to harvest about 55 acres of forest near Mount Valhalla on the Bayfield Peninsula.

Officials want to shift the area of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest from predominantly oak to a mix of oak and white pine -- which was one of the first species to go during the heyday of logging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Earlier this summer the Forest Service conducted a prescribed burn in the area, which is about seven miles west of Washburn.

The burn followed a timber harvest about a year ago, and was meant to reduce the limbs and other brush left behind and provide more open ground for pine plantings.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)