Society of American Foresters Policy Update

Week of January 27th

SAF Policy Homepage

Articles listed in the headlines may now be accessed by clicking the blue highlighted number adjacent to the headline.

Headings above each article summary are web links to the articles. Click headings or web addresses at the end of the article summary link to the articles web address.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Headlines This Week

SAF Legislative Actions

1. SAF Submits Letter of Support for Healthy Forest Restoration Amendment Act and Biomass Utilization Bill

In the Administration

1. USDA Releases Woody Biomass Feedstock Yard Business Development Guide

2. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partners Announced

3. USFS Pacific Southwest Region Gets Financial Boost

Last Week in Congress

1. Montana Representative Rehberg Withholds Support on Tester's Bill Until Changes Are Made

This Week in Congress

1. Natural Resource Legislation Scheduled to be Discussed in Committee and on the Floor

National Headlines

1. Lawsuit Filed Against California Department of Forest to Block Sierra Pacific Timber Harvesting Operation

2. Carbon Offset Dealers Report Recent Rise in Demand for Voluntary Credits

In the States: California; Washington; Oregon; Maine

1. Falling City Tree Claims the Life of Toddler as San Jose Residents Learn that the Trees are Their Responsibility

2. Bull Trout Critical Habitat Expanded in the Pacific Northwest

3. BLM District Gains Community Support by "Thinking Outside the Box"

4. Legislators Oppose Maine Governor's Idea to Merge Natural Resource Operations to Cut Budget

Wildfire Update

1. Oregon Wildfire Was Far Less Harmful to Atmosphere Than Researchers Thought

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAF Legislative Actions

SAF Sends Letter of Support for Forest Initiative

December 7th-SAF President Bernard Hubbard submitted a letter to House Representatives Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), Kurt Schrader (D-OR), and Greg Walden (R-OR) on behalf of SAF to express support for the Healthy Forests Restoration Amendments Act and the Incentives to Increase Use of Renewable Biomass Act of 2009.

Link to Letter Available on the SAF Policy Page: http://www.eforester.org/fp/documents/ltr_support_HFRA_12709.pdf

Back to Headlines

In the Administration

USDA Releases Woody Biomass Feedstock Yard Business Development Guide

January 27th- The Woody Biomass Feedstock Yard Business Development Guide was developed by the Federal Woody Biomass Working Group chartered under the Biomass Research and Development Board to be a resource and business guide for developing a woody biomass collection yard. This Guide provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities to establish a woody biomass feedstock yard in the United States. It includes information on biomass sourcing; facility site selection and equipment; biomass sort yards; biomass collection, concentration, and distribution; biomass handling, sorting, and economic considerations; business planning; marketing and distribution; financial feasibility analysis; and sources of technical assistance and funding. Additional references and resources are included.

Link for More Information and Woody Biomass

Guide: http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/Woody_Biomass/documents/feedstock_yard_guide.pdf

Back to Headlines

EPA Green Power Program Continues to Grow

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's top 10 Green Power Partners increased their voluntary green power commitments by more than 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2009, while 300 new organizations joined the Green Power Partnership. Overall, the 1,200 partners are buying nearly 18 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions from electricity use of more than 1.6 million average American homes. The green power is derived from a variety of sources including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and biogas.

More information on the top 50 green power purchasers list: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top50.htm

Back to Headlines

USFS Pacific Southwest Region Gets Financial Boost

Contra Costa Times Article Published January 26th by Rachel Raskin-Zrihren

The Unites States Forest Service will use some of the $185 million dollars sent to the Pacific Southwest Region through the American Reinvestment Act to create jobs in Northern California. The long list of planned projects includes hazardous fuel reduction project, road building and repairs, and wood to energy projects. Officials predict that the money will allow the agency to hire a number of new workers and though the figures are not concrete they expect the job creation figure to be in the hundreds. The jobs will be in a variety of field and require workers with diverse skill sets. Link to Article: http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14269210

Back to Headlines

Last Week In Congress

Montana Representative Rehberg Withholds Support On Tester's Bill Until Changes Are Made

Chronicle Article Published January 25th by Daniel Person

Denny Rehberg (R-MT) said without certainty that the logging proposals in Senator Jon Tester's wilderness bill will be fulfilled; he will not support the proposed legislation. The bill advertised as a compromise of divergent interests in Montana straddling the fence by both adding the first new wilderness areas in the state in thirty years by also reviving the state's timber industry with stock to supply mills and create jobs. However, Representative Rehberg is hesitant to pledge his support because he thinks that interest groups will still have the chance to challenge timber sales in court and potentially block timber harvest in the state and create 600,000 acres of protected wilderness.
Link to Article: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2010/01/26/news/200forest.txt

Back to Headlines

This Week in Congress

February 4th- Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2011 for the Department of Energy. 10:00 AM in Hearing Room (SD-366)

February 9th- Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Hearing to examine the Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program. 10:00 AM in Hearing Room (SD-366)

February 10th- Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2011 for the Department of the Interior. 9:30 AM in hearin Room (SD-366)

Back to Headlines

National Headlines

Lawsuit Filed Against California Department of Forest to Block Sierra Pacific Timber Harvesting Operation

Los Angeles Times Article Published January 27th by Margot Roosevelt

Lawsuits were filed by the Center for Biological Diversity in seven California counties contending that the approval of harvesting operations on 5,000 acres of Sierra Pacific property was not subject to the proper environmental review by state and county officials. Sierra Pacific officials and California Forestry Association officials dismiss the lawsuit as yet another attempt by environmental interest groups to cripple the logging industry noting that 40 percent of the state's sawmills have closed since 2000. The maneuver by the Center for Biological Diversity also reveals the dissention between environmental group over California's development of a carbon cap and trade market. Cooperation guarantees and support of the new trading market by groups that often represent conflicting interests, such as Sierra Pacific, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Environmental Defense Fund, were viewed as integral to the potential success of the market. However, the Center for Biological Diversity is a part of a group that has always opposed the rules created by the California Air Resources Board calling for the rules to be scrapped because they ignore impacts on the environment. Link to Article: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/01/clear-cutting-forests-climate-change-sierra-nevada-global-warming.html

Back to Headlines

Carbon Offset Dealers Report Recent Rise in Demand for Voluntary Credits

Reuters Article Published January 27th by Nina Chestney

The chief of the Carbon Advice Group noted a big jump in interest in a worldwide carbon market from the United States and thinks that other industrialized countries will soon follow the lead of the U.S. The voluntary market functions outside the regulatory United Nation and European Union schema. The voluntary market relies on willingness of businesses to self regulate their emissions by choosing to trade carbon offsets without legally binding agreements. Recent reports showed Voluntary Carbon Standard credits were trading at $2-$2.50 per credit on the voluntary market. Link to Article: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60Q2ZH20100127

Back to Headlines

In the States: California; Washington; Oregon; Maine

Falling City Tree Claims the Life of Toddler as San Jose Residents about Trees and Their Responsibilities

Mercury News Article Published January 25th by Tracey Seipel and Denis C. Theriault

Mateo Ortiz's family learned on January 25th that the large silver maple that fell on the family pickup up killing Mateo and injuring his father was the family's responsibility to maintain even though the tree grew on a strip on of land owned by the city between the road and sidewalk. In 2008 San Jose decided to stop maintenance on street trees in public "rights of way" leaving the responsibility with homeowners to insure that the trees do not fail causing damage to personal property or injuries. However, many residents following the death of the two year old question why the city plans to plant 100,000 trees by 2022 if they do not have the money to maintain the trees growing in the urban forest now. The San Jose transportation department explained that not just tree maintenance falls on the homeowner in these tough budget times but homeowners are also expected to perform necessary upkeep on city sidewalks, parking strips, curbs, and gutters in front of their residences. However, an expert in tree law explained that though the city has the ordinance in place that some degree of culpability for the little boy's tragic death probably still remains with the city. Link to Article: http://www.mercurynews.com/valley/ci_14268073

Back to Headlines

Bull Trout Critical Habitat Expanded in the Pacific Northwest

The Columbian Article Published January 25th by Erik Robinson

A proposal to expand the critical habitat designation line above the Merwin Dam to 2002 boundaries and include a reservoir could also complicate a planned timber sale by the Forest Service near a tributary of the Pine River in Southwest Washington State. Fishery biologists claim that the timber sale could jeopardize species survival because the pine River is one of the most productive spawning beds identified in the Lewis River Basin. However, a spokesman for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest said that the 5000 acre timber harvest plan willl be open for public comment in June, and that the USFS took great care in developing a harvest plan that was sensitive to the bull trout habitat and other endangered and threatened species in the area. Link to Article: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010890274_trout26m.html

Back to Headlines

BLM District Gains Community Support by "Thinking Outside the Box"

The News-Review Article Published January 25th by DD Bixby

A strategy to use consensus building to bring interest groups together from the start to foster dialogue and allow local resident the opportunity to help develop forest plan for the Roseburg Bureau of Land Management District was endorsed representatives on all sides. They appreciate that the district is willing to have public involvement from the start because they say that historically the public comment periods seem to be held only to satisfy legal requirements with suggestions from the public often ignored. However, the region has several hard to tackle issues
including the Northern Spotted Owl and BLM officials know that twenty years of entrenched values will have to be hashed out in planning meetings to make any progress. They say they realize that their work is just beginning with their new approach to forest planning. Link to Article: http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20100125/NEWS/100129828/1063/NEWS&ParentProfile=1055

Back to Headlines

Legislators Oppose Maine Governor's Idea to Merge Natural Resource Operations to Cut Budget

Kennebec Journal Article Published January 27th by Susan M. Cover

Three committees in Maine's state legislature rejected the proposal to combine the operations of four natural resource branches of the state government. The offered an alternative suggesting that the Department of Environmental Protection and State Planning Office dividing the $1.25 million dollar budget reduction by six and asking each agency to make specific budget cuts in each agency. The legislators said that designating a task force to determine where cuts can be made in the four natural resource agencies is unacceptable and that constituents from lobstermen to sportsmen were worried about the loss of expertise that would result in consolidation. The Appropriation Committee predicted that the plan offered by the three committees rejecting the consolidation plan would have to be sent back to the same committees for revisions in later sessions, but members in opposition to the governor's plan do not plan to grant approval to the funding cuts without the MEPA and Planning Department included in the budget measure. Link to Article: http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/7387596.html

Back to Headlines

Wildfire Update

Oregon Wildfire Was Far Less Harmful to Atmosphere Than Researchers Thought

Oregonian Article Published January 27th by Scott Learn

Scientists feared that the 2003 B & B Complex Fire in Oregon released six times more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all other carbon dioxide emissions in Oregon that year. However, researchers at Oregon State University observed the tree growth in the Metolius river basin where the B & B fire burned and decided that far fewer trees burned in the blaze than previously thought. They determined that the B &B fire along with three other fires that consumed 100,000 acres produced a mere 2.5 percent of Oregon's annual carbon output. The team working on the
project attributed the wild overestimates to reactionary behavior during and in the immediate aftermath of a blaze. They explained that forest fires appear to vaporize all in the path, but that many trees often survive the fires and others fall to forest floor to decay and slowly release carbon over several decades. Link to Article: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2010/01/oregon_wildfires_released_far.html

Back to Headlines

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The SAF National Office serves as the voice of professional forestry through its active role in several forestry, natural resources, and agricultural groups and coalitions...

25 x '25 (www.25x25.org) - SAF is proud to be a member of 25 x '25 and currently sits on its Sustainability Working Group. The goal of 25 x '25 is to have 25% of our energy needs being fulfilled by renewable resources from our nation's farms, ranches, forests, and other lands by the 2025.

Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases (www.continentalforestdialogue.org) SAF sits on this organization's Steering Committee and assists in its mission of "cultivating and catalyzing collaborative action among diverse interests to abate the threat to North American forests from non-native insects and diseases."

4th meeting of the Continental Dialogue on Non-Native Forest Insects and Diseases complete meeting summary is now available online: http://www.continentalforestdialogue.org/documents/meetings/2008-11/index.html

Additional groups in which SAF plays a role include:

Core Group of the Roundtable on Sustainable Forests (http://www.sustainableforests.net/index.php)

Forest Carbon Education Group The FCEG's Guidance Document on Managed Forests in Climate Change Policy can be viewed on the SAF Policy Webpage: http://www.eforester.org/fp/documents/managedforests_12-14-07.pdf

Wildland Fire Leadership Council

Western Governors' Association Forest Health Advisory Committee

Society of American Foresters
5400 Grosvenor Lane • Bethesda, MD 20814
Phone 301-897-8720 • Fax 301-897-3690

We respect your right to privacy. View our policy.

Click here to unsubscribe

5400 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda, MD, 20814