Buying land up here

Who owns the land around it

About a third of Oneida is public land: state, county forest and federal. Plenty of private lots back right up to it.

• State forestThe state owns about 121,200 acres here, around 18% of the county, most of it the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest. It's the big state land up around Woodruff and Minocqua, and it reaches into Lake Tomahawk, Sugar Camp and Newbold, where the Rainbow Wetlands are. The Willow Flowage is state land too. The whole forest runs over 236,000 acres across three counties.
• County forestAbout 83,000 acres, in three blocks: Enterprise, Cassian and Woodboro, and Lynne and Little Rice. It's open for hunting, berry picking, trails and logging, and the county keeps 37 miles of forest roads in it.715-369-6140Recreational map
• National forestAbout 11,700 acres, under 2% of the county, mostly the Chequamegon-Nicolet. Some of it's in the Town of Three Lakes.
• Private land open to the publicMFL land enrolled as open is open for hunting, fishing, hiking, sightseeing and cross-country skiing, and the owner can't turn people away. More than a quarter of the county is in MFL or the older Forest Crop Law, so check the map before you count on having the woods to yourself.DNR open lands map

From Oneida County Comprehensive Plan, dnr.wisconsin.gov nhal, CFL Acreage by County 2023, oneidacountywi.gov fr, oneidacountywi.gov faq, oneidacountywi.gov contact us, dnr.wisconsin.gov faqaccess

Look up a parcel

• Owner and taxesAscent Land Records has the tax bill, the parcel, permits and deeds in one search. The Treasurer's office can tell you who owns it, what it's assessed at and whether the taxes are behind, often over the phone.715-369-6137Ascent Land Records
• Lot lines on a mapThe county's GIS map shows parcels, and the Land Information office keeps recorded surveys online too. Worth a look before you trust where the stakes are.715-369-6179GIS map · Surveys and maps
• Permits already on itZoning and sanitary permits on file are in Ascent Permit Management. Look before you trust what anybody says is permitted.Permit lookup
• Deeds and easementsThe Register of Deeds is in the courthouse in Rhinelander. Recorded documents are on RecordEASE, and there's a tract index for anything before 1997. Mailing something in? Since September 1, 2026 they want a stamped envelope back.715-369-6150RecordEASE · Pre-1997 tract index
• Once it's yours, sign up for the Register of Deeds' property fraud alert. It'll email or call your phone when something gets recorded under your name.Property fraud alert

From oneidacountywi.gov li, oneidacountywi.gov land records system, oneidacountywi.gov tr, oneidacountywi.gov rd, oneidacountywi.gov pz, propertyrecords.oneidacountywi.gov

On the water

Anything within 1,000 feet of a lake, pond or flowage, or 300 feet of a river or creek, is shoreland. The county's shoreland rules cover it in every town, zoned or not. The City of Rhinelander has its own.

• 75 feet backA new building sits 75 feet back from the high-water mark. If the neighbors' houses on both sides are within 250 feet and both closer than 75, you can go to the average of theirs, but never closer than 35, and a house built that way can't later add out to the side inside the 75 feet. Houses stay 10 feet off the side lines, and nothing within 75 feet of the water goes over 35 feet tall.
• Lot sizeThe shoreland ordinance's minimum for a new lot is 20,000 square feet and 100 feet of frontage without sewer, 10,000 and 65 with it. The district tables in the zoned towns ask for more on small lakes: 50,000 square feet and 200 feet on a lake of 50 acres or less. A few lakes have their own numbers: every lake in Stella, Lake Katherine in Hazelhurst, Blue and Bobcat in Minocqua, and Two Sisters in Newbold. Ask the zoning office which number they'll hold a new lot to. An older lot that was legal when it was made can usually still be built on, as long as it was never combined with the lot next door or built across the line.Lot size tables
• Leave the treesThe first 35 feet from the water stays natural, except a view and path corridor at least 35 feet wide for every 100 feet of frontage. Dead, diseased or dangerous trees and invasives can come out, but plant something back.
• Roofs and drivewaysWithin 300 feet of the water, hard surfaces can cover 15% of the lot. Past that you need a mitigation plan, and 30% is the cap. Runoff that goes to a rain garden or the like doesn't count.
• Decks and boathousesAn open deck, patio or gazebo can go inside the 75 feet if it's at least 35 feet from the water, everything in there adds up to 200 square feet or less, and you keep a buffer of plants along the shore. One boathouse per lot, in the view corridor, storage only. On a lake under 500 acres it's 14 feet wide and 336 square feet at most; on bigger lakes, flowages and chains, 24 feet and 720.
• Most things take a permitIn the zoned towns, anything that costs over $2,500 or runs 200 square feet or more, and any change of use. Call before doing anything at all within 75 feet of the water. In Enterprise, Monico and Sugar Camp, near the water you need one for new building, new hard surfaces and additions. Ordinary repairs don't need one, and a permit runs out after two years.715-369-6130
• Access lotsNo keyholing. You can't make a back lot that uses a strip or shared lot to get to the water.

From Chapter 9 Article 9 2, Chapter 9 Appendix A B, Information Handout 111523, Oneida County Comprehensive Plan

An old cabin close to the water

• Lots of the old cabins here sit inside the 75 feet. As long as it was put up legally, it can stay, be fixed up, or be torn down and rebuilt on the same footprint, and you can raise it as high as 35 feet.
• If it's at least 35 feet from the water, you can add out to the side up to 200 square feet over the cabin's whole life, no closer to the water, with a mitigation plan. Any addition back past the 75 feet is fine. Closer than 35 feet, no adding out to the side.
• You can move it back on the lot, with a mitigation plan, if there's no spot that meets the 75 feet. A place that got its setback by averaging the neighbors can't add out to the side inside the 75 feet.
• Rebuilding a place that's hooked to a septic system takes a county reconnection permit, and they check the old system first to see if it's failing.
• If a use that doesn't fit the rules has been quit for 12 months, it can't come back. Ask the zoning office how that plays out on your lot before you buy.715-369-6130

From Chapter 9 Article 9 2, ecode360.com

Away from the water

• Who does zoningThe county zones 17 towns all the way through. Enterprise, Monico and Sugar Camp have no zoning away from the water, except around Indian Lake and Sugar Camp Lake. None of the towns zones on its own; the City of Rhinelander does its own. Towns still have their own road, driveway and land division rules, and some are stricter than the county's.Zoning by town
• Lot sizesOff the water without sewer, single family and residential and farming districts want 50,000 square feet and 100 feet wide. Rural residential is 5 acres and 300 feet. In Forestry 1-A and 1-B a cabin needs 10 acres and 300 feet, and Forestry 1-C is 17 acres.Lot size tables
• Forestry 1-ASeasonal cabins only. No year-round houses, and the county doesn't expect plowing or a school bus out there. Before you get a permit you sign a forestry use agreement that's recorded with the deed and binds whoever owns it next.
• Splitting landMaking one to eight pieces of 10 acres or less in five years is a minor subdivision, reviewed by the county, and nine or more is a full subdivision. Pieces over 10 acres still get checked for road access. Every lot needs 33 feet on a public, private or easement road. The county review is $100 a lot.Land division form
• Easement roadsA private road or easement serving one or two lots needs at least 33 feet of right-of-way, and a 33-footer can keep you from splitting again later. Roads for new subdivisions get 66 feet, unless the town has its own standard.

From oneidacountywi.gov, Information Handout 111523, Chapter 9 Article 2, Chapter 9 Appendix A B, ecode360.com, Fee Schedule 010126, Oneida County Comprehensive Plan, townofthreelakeswi.gov, newboldwi.gov

Septic and the soil

• Vacant lotIt comes down to the soil. A certified soil tester digs and writes it up, then a licensed plumber applies for the sanitary permit. No zoning permit for anything people live in until that sanitary permit is issued. Find out before you close.Soil testers and plumbers
• Place with a systemEvery system gets looked at and the tank pumped at least every three years. A cabin that's only used now and then can ask in writing for five. The seller is supposed to tell you about the county's maintenance program. A failing system has to be fixed, replaced or shut off. Look up the permit on file before you buy.715-369-6130Permit lookup
• Holding tanksA holding tank comes with an agreement recorded on the deed. If it isn't pumped like it should be, the county has it done and the bill can land on your taxes.
• Old systemsA system from before July 1980 needs its original soil boring to get a reconnect or repair permit, or a new one.

From Chapter 9 Article 3 1, ecode360.com, Sanitary permit submittal requirement, Information Handout 111523, oneidacountywi.gov

The well

• Nothing in state law makes a seller inspect or test the well, so ask for it. Only a licensed well driller or pump installer can do the inspection. They test the water for coliform bacteria, nitrate and arsenic, and look for old unused wells on the place.
• The county wants a well 25 feet from a septic or holding tank, 50 feet from the drain field and 25 feet from the water. Look up the well's construction report, sometimes called the well log.DNR well reports · Buying a place with a well
• Got an old well nobody uses? Filling and sealing it is work for a licensed well driller or pump installer. Oneida Land and Water Conservation has a page on it and a cost-share program, so call and ask before you pay for it all yourself.715-369-7835Well abandonment

From dnr.wisconsin.gov, Information Handout 111523, oclw.org well abandonment, oclw.org cost share grant program

The road in

• Driveway permitsMost towns want a driveway permit for a new drive off a town road, and a drive stays 5 feet off the lot lines. Off a county highway it's a county permit, and you pay for the work and keep up the part in the right-of-way. Off a state or federal highway it's WisDOT in Rhinelander.715-369-6184County driveway permit
• Building back from the roadBuildings sit 20 feet back from a recorded right-of-way. Without one on file, it's measured from the centerline: 80 feet on a state or federal highway, 70 on a county road, 60 on a town road.
• Private roadsA new private road or easement serving more than four places has to be named. A name and addresses on a private road don't mean the town will plow it or fix it, or that a fire truck can get down it. Ask who does.
• Fire numberYou apply through the town, and the county Land Information office assigns the number. If the town or highway department wants a driveway permit, get that first. The town puts the sign up within 30 days, and keeping it where it can be seen is on you.715-369-6179

From Information Handout 111523, oneidacountywi.gov, ACCESS DRIVEWAY PERMIT REQUIREMENTS lg, ecode360.com, Zoning Bldg Code Officials 1

Land in Managed Forest Law

• About 189,900 acres here, more than a quarter of the county, were in MFL or the older Forest Crop Law in 2023. The deal is a cheaper tax bill in trade for managing the woods to a plan, signed up for 25 or 50 years. A sale doesn't end it.
• Buying itThe new owner sends the DNR a transfer form within 30 days, with a $100 fee. Skip it and the land can get pulled out with a withdrawal tax. Any piece split off has to qualify on its own, or it comes out. Talk to the DNR's tax law forester for the county before you buy.
• Building on itLand enrolled in 2017 or later can't have buildings except for storage. Older enrollments have their own test for what counts as a house.
• Getting outYou can pull land out any time, but it costs a withdrawal tax plus a $300 fee.
• Open or closedOpen land has to let the public hunt, fish, hike, sightsee and ski. Closed costs more: for land enrolled since 2005, $9.49 an acre a year against $1.90 open, at the rates set for 2023 through 2027. You can switch when you buy.DNR MFL · Change of owner · MFL tax rates

From Oneida County Comprehensive Plan, dnr.wisconsin.gov mfl, dnr.wisconsin.gov faqownership, dnr.wisconsin.gov taxrates, dnr.wisconsin.gov faqaccess

Wetlands and flooding

• WetlandsThere's over 237,500 acres of wetland in the county, about a third of the land: Munninghoff Marsh on the Rhinelander Flowage, the Rainbow Wetlands, Thunder Lake Swamp by Three Lakes and plenty more. Near the water, mapped wetland is its own zoning district with not much allowed. Buildings can go right up to the edge, but no grading within 5 feet of it.
• Check before you buyFill or dig in a wetland and you'll likely need a DNR permit, and the DNR advises against buying mapped wetland to build on. There's a wetlands addendum you can put in your offer. For $300 an acre, up to 5 acres, DNR staff will come out and show you where the wet ground starts.DNR wetland map · DNR wetland permits
• FloodplainThe county's floodplain rules go by FEMA's flood maps and the flood study dated May 16, 2013. Look the address up on FEMA's site. On the water, the buildable part of a lot has to sit above the regional flood.FEMA flood maps · County floodplain ordinance

From Oneida County Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 9 Article 9 2, Information Handout 111523, dnr.wisconsin.gov, ecode360.com

A camper on your lot

• Staying in a camper more than five days in a row takes a county zoning permit, the same setbacks and lot size as a house, and somewhere for the waste to go. If it's hooked to water or power, that means a septic system with a sanitary permit; if not, a privy permit. The zoning permit was $100 a camper on the 2026 fee schedule.715-369-6130Camping handout
• No blue totes or other transfer tanks outside a licensed campground.
• No permit for one camper just parked and stored, not hooked up and not slept in. While you build, you can live in it up to two years, as long as you have the zoning permit for the house and noted the camper on it. A tent for five days or less is fine.
• Check with the town too. Some have their own camping rules and fees.

From Camping Handout 6.8.26, ecode360.com, Fee Schedule 010126, townofthreelakeswi.gov

County land sales

• The county takes land for back taxes through a foreclosure the Treasurer handles. The Land Information office sells it off by sealed bid, and the county tries to hold a sale every year, with each round's bid results posted on the county site. County forest land is handled separately and isn't part of these sales.
• Each bid needs a $500 bid guarantee and can't be under the minimum the county set. You get a quit claim deed, as is: the county doesn't promise the boundaries or the title. What doesn't sell after two rounds can go on the county website, with bids opened at the Land Records Committee meetings.
• Want to hear about the next one? Send in the sign-up form, and send it again every year to stay on the list.715-369-6179Land sales · Sign-up form

From oneidacountywi.gov tr, oneidacountywi.gov li, oneidacountywi.gov real property sale offerings, August 2026 Bid Results, SignUp Form RP LandSales MAILING, ecode360.com

Power and internet

• The county's 2025 plan has Wisconsin Public Service on most of the county, with Price Electric Co-op and Northern States Power on parts of the west side. WPS has natural gas too, but not everywhere, so plenty of places run on LP. Check the state map for the exact line.Electric territory map
• Internet depends on the road you're on, and the county's own plan says it varies a lot. Check the maps before you count on working from the lake.Wisconsin broadband map · County broadband map

From Oneida County Comprehensive Plan, psc.wi.gov, oneidacountywi.gov