National Association of Conservation Districts

National Association of Conservation Districts

NACD's mission is to serve conservation districts by providing national leadership and a unified voice for natural resource conservation.

Forestry Notes

December 2007
Volume XVII, Issue 1

 | PDF version | Archive of Previous Issues |

  1. Making It a Team Effort: Joint Forestry Team leadership meets to advance forestry partnership
  2. Wisconsin Produces Woody Biomass Legislation
  3. New Mexico Workshop Showcases Woody Biomass Options
  4. Workshop Helps Leaders from All Levels Collaborate
  5. Rushton Moderates SAF Lunch Session
  6. NACD Supports Proposed Legislation to Amend Healthy Forests Restoration Act
  7. USFS Releases Five-Year Strategy Plan

1. Making It a Team Effort
Joint Forestry Team leadership meets to advance forestry partnership
By Charles Holmes, Chairman,
NACD Forestry Committee

The Joint Forestry Team (Team) brought together its respective leaders in Washington, D.C. for its first interagency leadership briefing. The Team reported on its findings from canvassing its organizations to identify strengths and barriers in order to develop more effective program delivery to forest landowners.

State foresters, state associations of conservation districts, and state conservationists were polled to determine what level of cooperation currently existed, and what was keeping increased cooperation from happening.

The survey indicated that members participated on the state technical committees but forestry did not rank a high priority. As might be expected, stable and adequate funding was a consensus desire that few survey responders felt was being met. Lack of funding is keeping successful forestry programs from delivering the full compliment of benefits, and the Team recognized funding issues as one of the top barriers to improved program delivery.

Respondents also concurred that more technical assistance is needed on the ground. It became clear that landowners value face-to-face interaction with an actual forester, with boots on the ground ready to advise on issues of forestland management, more than they value typical financial incentives. The polling data led the Team to rank insufficient levels of technical assistance as another serious barrier to increasing the level of achievement of program goals.

The Team was tasked not only with identifying the barriers to improving the delivery of forestry programs, but also with highlighting some potential recommendations for eliminating those most prominent barriers. The Team will now begin addressing those barriers.

The Team is currently developing a revised memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at specifying agency and organizational roles and responsibilities within the Team. The MOU will also outline the barriers to cooperation and highlight some potential recommendations for addressing those barriers.

Additionally, the Team is in the process of sending a joint letter to the members of all four Joint Forestry Team agencies and organizations that will urge cross-organizational boundary cooperation during the upcoming state forest resource assessment and planning processes. These assessments and plans, and the work they subsequently encourage, will be much more efficient and effective if arrived at through a coordination of effort.

Seventy six percent of the State Conservationists (39 of 51) responded to the informal poll sent to them by Joyce Swartzendruber on Sept. 28.

Following is a brief summary of the responses to each of the first five questions:

Question #1 – Do you direct any financial or technical assistance funding toward forestry practices at the state level?

77 percent (30 of 39) stated “yes”.  The level of assistance varied widely and included EQIP funds or special signups specifically designated for forestry, funds obligated to contribution agreements that allow state forestry agencies to provide technical assistance, and making forestry practices eligible through regular signups.

Question #2 – Is the State forestry agency invited to participate in your State Technical Committee meetings?  Same question for U.S. Forest Service.

All respondents stated that State forestry agencies were invited and over 80 percent (32 of 39) reported they were regular participants.U.S. Forest Service was invited to participate by over 80 percent of the respondents (32 of 39); however their attendance was less frequent than state forestry agencies due in part to no/limited presence in some states.

Question #3 – Do you accept State Forest Stewardship Plans/private consultant management plans as completed conservation plans for cost-share purposes?

About 69 percent (27 of 39) reported “yes” but many respondents noted that these plans have different specifications that often do not meet the requirements of NRCS plans.  However, several noted that Forest Stewardship Plans/other forest mgmt plans provide information that was used to complete some steps of the NRCS planning process and also for completing EQIP and WHIP contracts.

Question #4 – Do you have agreements with your State forestry agency for providing technical assistance on forestland?

About 54 percent (21 of 39) reported that agreements are in place with the state forestry agency for providing technical assistance.  These agreements include MOUs, contribution agreements, cooperative agreements, and shared staff positions.

Question #5 – Do you feel that there is an appropriate level of funding for forestry practices in your state?

About 36 percent (14 of 39) responded “yes” that there is an appropriate level of funding.  About 38 percent (15 of 39) responded “no” or “probably not” and about 26 percent (10 of 39) were unsure/undecided.


2. Wisconsin Produces Woody Biomass Legislation
Comprehensive legislation for the production and utilization of woody biomass has resulted from a four-year seven-step process Bill Horvath, who chaired a woody biomass task force for the Wisconsin Forestry Council, presented the final report of the Task Force at the Council’s September meeting.

“The Task Force went through seven steps before preparing its final report,” said Horvath. Those included looking at forest inventory analysis data, which found heavy utilization by Wisconsin integrated forest industry. Based on that, it contracted with the UW-Madison School of Public Affairs to pull together state legislation on the subject from across the country. Little was found to serve as a base for the legislation. “The biggest single area was legislation dealing with power companies,” said Horvath.

The Task Force spent nearly three years developing its 30 components of the legislation in two categories: those that created demand and those that produced additional supply. “The legislation was developed component-by-component as the need was discovered,” Horvath said. “We did not attempt to fashion it into one single bill, as many of the components were too controversial.”

Seven of the recommended components have been taken by the Forestry Council as a separate bill and will be introduced as legislation.

One of the components is the definition of woody biomass.  The Task Force was aware of only two states that had defined woody biomass; Wisconsin could be the third.

According to the final report, nearly one million acres are sitting idle and could be added to the 16 million acres of forestland to produce woody biomass. Fast-growing wood crops could be raised to produce energy such as willow and hybrid poplar. “That’s important since there is a real shortage of woody biomass in Wisconsin due to the demand of existing industry for electricity and thermal energy,” said Horvath. “The Task Force found that it is not feasible to build any large power plants to utilize woody biomass because the state can’t meet the needs of one company that uses woody biomass to produce electric power.”

A Great Lakes Wood and Biomass Exchange proposal came out of the study. Horvath said the process raised nearly $400,000 for a feasibility study now underway. “Nothing like this exists for dimensional wood, pulpwood or woody biomass. We have expertise familiar with commodity markets now taking a look at the feasibility of a wood exchange. We think this could help Wisconsin wood markets all the way down to the individual forestland owner,” he said.

Facts gathered along the way in the study include identifying nearly 1,000 bridges constructed of wood in Wisconsin, all of them of wood from out of state. “We are recommending a separate piece of legislation to enhance a bridge building program utilizing Wisconsin wood,” Horvath said.

The 193-page report, which contains the components, can be secured electronically through the Wisconsin Forestry Council at http://www.council.wisconsinforestry.org/pdf/WoodyBiomassReport.pdf. For more information, contact Bill Horvath at 715/341-4021 or email bill.horvath@sbcglobal.net.


3. New Mexico Workshop Showcases Woody Biomass Options
A well-attended fall training conference and workshop for forestry entrepreneurs was held Nov. 5-7 at the Inn of Mountain Gods Resort and Casino in Ruidoso, N.M. The conference was organized and hosted by the Southwest Sustainable Forests Partnership (SWSFP). The SWSFP is a unique partnership consisting of the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the State Foresters of New Mexico and Arizona. The partnership is focused on addressing the ecological, economic, and social dimensions of creating sustainable community and tribal-based forest and wood product enterprises. 

NACD, through a cooperative agreement on the National Fire Plan and woody biomass utilization with the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of Interior, provided seed funding to the SWSFP to help make the 2007 conference and workshop possible. The conference was attended by more than 150 woody industry entrepreneurs, government officials, tribal governments, and other service providers. The title of the conference was “Southwest Woodland Species Management and Opportunities.” Topics included wood to energy, harvesting techniques and technology for pinon-Juniper, ethanol production, pinon-juniper restoration, funding opportunities and mechanisms, contracting, business management, erosion control and mulch utilization, recovery and utilization of woody biomass, and internet marketing.

The final day of the conference provided attendees with a choice of venues. One was attending a smallwood lumber manufacturing workshop by the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory. The second venue was attending a field tour that showcased an in-woods demonstration of a cable yarding system on Mescalero Apache tribal lands, the work of the Greater Ruidoso Area Wildland Urban Interface Working Group, Sierra Contracting’s wood mulching operation in Ruidoso Downs, and SBS wood shavings operation in Glencoe, N.M. SBS showcased a wide range of products it makes from small diameter wood thinnings, including high-quality bedding materials for horses.

For more information on the conference and the proceedings go to http://www.swsfp.org or contact Herb Hopper with the Little Colorado RC&D at 928/524-8063 ext. 5, or herbert.hopper@rcdnet.net.


4. Workshop Helps Leaders from All Levels Collaborate
The Southern Forest Research Partnership held a first ‘train-the-trainer’ workshop on Sept. 10-12, in Atlanta, Ga. where it unveiled a trainers’ curriculum notebook titled, “Sustainable Forestry for Bioenergy and Bio-based Products.”

More than 90 participants from state and federal forestry agencies, university extension programs, industry, community development and other organizations attended the session. Said Larry Biles, director of the Southern Forest Research Partnership, “In the invitation process we tried to select four to six persons from each state and from diverse organizational backgrounds to participate in the training program.” Biles was pleased with the results of the conference.

Each participant received in-depth presentations along with the train-the-trainer notebook and a Bioenergy Ambassadors Guide developed by the University of Florida in Gainesville. The materials helped assist community groups and natural resources professionals in urban areas to address the woody dimensions of municipal solid waste and other sources of woody biomass for energy in the urban/rural interface.

Said Biles, “Two things really stood out to me: there was a genuine interest in the subject matter being presented, and there was a willingness by people at the state level to jointly plan educational outreach activities for their constituents.”

Seven topic areas which followed the key chapter themes found in the notebook were addressed:

Sponsors for the session included Texas A&M University, the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, the Unviersity of Toronto, Southern Regional Extension Foresters, the Southern Forest Research Partnership, the National Learning Center for Private Forest and Range Landowners, the University of Florida and the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station.

Development of the notebook and train-the-trainer program was the result of an outreach and training grant to the Southern Forest Research Partnership from the Healthy Forest Restoration Act.

The notebook can be downloaded at http://www.forestbioenergy.net.

For more information about the event, contact Larry Biles, director of the Southern Forest Research Partnership, at lbiles@warnell.uga.edu.


5. Rushton Moderates SAF Lunch Session
NACD forestry committee member Doug Rushton from the Thurston Conservation District in Tumwater, Wash., is an active member of the Society of American Foresters (SAF) and serves as Chair of the Washington State Chapter. As part of the annual SAF convention held in Portland, Ore. last month, Rushton served as moderator for the event known as “Lunch with the Leaders.” This year, the leaders included Cassie Phillips, vice president, Sustainable Forests and Products for Weyerhaeuser, who directs the company’s strategies for forest stewardship and relationships with stakeholders; Zhu Ning, professor at Southern University and A&M College where she has leads the region in contributing to the national assessment on climate change; and Doug Sutherland, now in his second term as Commissioner of Public Lands for Washington State DNR where he administers 5.6 million acres of state lands.
 
This year’s SAF convention drew more than 2,000 participants, including roughly 500 students and 100 local teachers. Rushton said of the event, “I would encourage folks to attend cross-pollinating opportunities such as this. We have lots in common. There are all sorts of opportunities for linkages between NACD and other organizations.”

Next year’s SAF convention will be at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nev. on November 5-9, 2008.


6. NACD Supports Proposed Legislation to Amend Healthy Forests Restoration Act
NACD recently signed a letter of support for proposed legislation by Representative Bill Sali (R-ID) to amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. The legislation would provide for the exclusion of certain projects on federal lands that are located adjacent to non-federal lands. NACD supports legislation that expedites the implementation of projects that reduce fuels, eliminate other negative impacts and restore forests.

Should this legislation be passed into law, treatments for fuels, insects, diseases and invasive species on federal lands would proceed more rapidly, providing protection to adjacent non-federal landowners.

The letter of support from NACD for this proposal can be found at
http://www.nacdnet.org/policy/input/letters/forestry_11-02-07.phtml.


7. USFS Releases Five-Year Strategy Plan
U.S. Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell recently announced the release of the agency’s strategic plan for fiscal years 2007-2012. The plan includes Kimbell’s emphasis areas of climate change, water and involving youngsters in forest activities.

“Forests play a unique role in meeting our Nation’s future challenges associated with climate change, renewable energy, and sustaining abundant flows of fresh water to the American people,” said Kimbell. “Because issues related to climate change and looming water shortages will take many years to resolve, the Forest Service is committed to instilling stronger land ethics in future generations.”

The Forest Service Strategic Plan for FY 2007-2012 provides a clear yet broad direction to carry out its mission of natural resource management while focusing on critical programs and activities.

The strategy includes the integration of environmental, social, and economic issues into its management decisions while accounting for present and future needs.
The Forest Service Strategic Plan can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/publications/strategic/fs-sp-fy07-12.pdf.