National Association of Conservation Districts

Forestry Notes

May 2008
Volume XVII, Issue 6

| PDF version | Archive of Previous Issues |

1. Coming Together in South Carolina
2. Experts: Price for Sawdust has Doubled
3. Wood to Energy Helps Communities Create Dialogue
4. Program Aims to Assist Women in Managing Forest Lands
5. Forestry Briefs

1. Coming Together in South Carolina
Partners team up to restore, improve and protect wildlife habitat on 16,000 acres
By Amy O. Maxwell
South Carolina NRCS Public Affairs Specialist

A unique cooperative conservation project in Newberry County, S.C., is restoring and improving National Forest lands, as well as privately-owned acreage, in the Indian Creek Watershed. The Cooperative Conservation Partners of the Indian Creek Wildlife Habitat Restoration Initiative (WHRI) joined forces to restore and improve habitat for declining species that depend on grasslands and open forest stands. The project was made possible through the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), which provides landowners with technical and financial assistance to develop habitat for upland wildlife, threatened and endangered species, fish and other wildlife.

The Indian Creek Watershed was once heavily farmed with cotton and tobacco, and as a result, native warm season grasses and other prime wildlife habitat conditions were altered. Judy Barnes, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Biologist and Chair of the WHRI said, “Populations of bobwhite quail and about 30 species of songbirds have declined over the past 60 years because of changes in the way land is used here at Indian Creek.”

Establishment of pine monoculture systems and introduced grasses such as fescue and coastal Bermuda intensified changes to the landscape of the watershed. “And, of course, increased development also eliminated habitat,” added Barnes. “These changes meant that wildlife species that once called this area home had to find refuge elsewhere,” said South Carolina Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist Niles Glasgow. “Since WHIP began in 1998, nearly 15,000 participants across the country have enrolled more than 2.3 million acres into the program,” said Glasgow. “Conservation practices like thinning, prescribed burning, and establishment of grasses are restoring habitat for declining populations of wildlife.” Target species at Indian Creek include bobwhite quail and songbirds like prairie warbler, loggerhead shrike, and Bachman’s sparrow.

The Newberry County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) helped spread the word to private landowners within the watershed encouraging them to visit their local USDA Service Center to find out about the assistance available to them. “The District wanted to make sure that private landowners within the watershed knew about this important initiative,” explained Newberry SWCD Chairman Wayne Satterwhite. “This area is important because it has the potential to provide habitat that will once again support the populations of quail, rabbit and other species that used to call this area home.”

The 16,000-acre project area is benefiting from conservation practices including thinning of pine stands, where on national forests lands, stands  were thinned to 35 to 40 square feet per acre of basal area. Prescribed fire is now used to reduce fuel loads and to open the forest floor for better germination of native warm season grass and eradication of invasive species. Bird monitoring is also helping to evaluate the effectiveness of the project.

“Indian Creek is a great example of what can happen when people and agencies work together in the name of conservation—the impact is huge, and the benefits will be great for a number of different wildlife species,” concluded Glasgow. A guided tour and celebration dinner on February 20 highlighted the efforts and dedication of the many individuals and partner agencies involved. 

The Indian Creek Wildlife Habitat Restoration Initiative Partnership consists of Quail Unlimited (State and Newberry Chapters); South Carolina Forestry Commission; USDA-NRCS; East Piedmont Resource Conservation & Development Council; National Wild Turkey Federation; U.S. Forest Service; SCDNR; Clemson Cooperative Extension Service; Newberry SWCD, and private landowners.

For more information, contact Amy O. Maxwell of the South Carolina NRCS office at (803) 765-5402, or email her at amy.maxwell@sc.usda.gov.

2. Experts: Price for Sawdust has Doubled
With the number of sawdust consumers continuing to increase as new markets are created, and the amount of material supplied by sawmills on the decline due to a slowing economy, the price for the material has reached new highs.

According to a report published in Smallwood News, those in need of sawdust material are paying approximately $1,200 per truckload, in large part because the amount of lumber being processed nationwide is down by nearly 50 million board feet per day from where it was two years ago.

Barry Wynsma of the Bonners Ferry Ranger District in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests said he has seen the change in the marketplace first hand.

“It’s been quite an eye opener out here,” said Wynsma. “I know of some paper mills paying $50 per ton; prior to that it would have cost half that amount.”

According to Wynsma, the reason is simple: “The saw mills aren’t making the sawdust that the pellet and paper companies need,” he said.

An even bigger eye opener, perhaps, is how the market demand has caused a shift in the industry. “Even with the depressed timber market I’ve heard of people chipping up saw logs because they’re making better money,” said Wynsma.

In some parts of the country, the demand has also forced those in need to search elsewhere for chipped material. Said one paper company representative, “There’s a trend that some emphasis is being shifted toward acquiring raw material from what could be called non-traditional sources.”

Wynsma is in the planning stages of a biomass Stewardship project expected to launch this summer. Though not expected to offer an abundance of chipped material, Wynsma knows there will be a strong demand for the bi-product from the thinning efforts. “I really wouldn’t be surprised to see paper mills working with us direct on some of these projects in the future,” said Wynsma.

The paper company representative said he is optimistic that a change in the timber industry is on the horizon; Wynsma isn’t so sure.

“I’m seeing indicators that it’s going to last for a while,” admitted Wynsma. “With the sawmills shut down, or operating at a slower rate, people are screaming for that secondary material.”

For more information, visit the Smallwood Web site at http://www.smallwoodnews.com, or email Barry Wynsma, Bonners Ferry Rangers District, at bwynsma@fs.fed.us.

3. Wood to Energy Helps Communities Create Dialogue
Across the nation, communities are looking to their local forests as potential sources of energy. In Okeelanta, Fla., wood is used in combination with sugar cane waste (bagasse) to produce up to 140 MW of electricity for the heavily populated region. In Kentucky, a high school is heated using 760 tons of sawdust each year.

Despite the fact that wood has a long history of providing energy, many Americans are unfamiliar with the idea of generating electricity or power from wood. To help communities build understanding, share information, and generate discussion about potential options, the Wood to Energy Outreach Program has developed a Biomass Ambassador Guide, a set of materials that explains how to determine if a community is receptive to the idea of using wood for energy and if so, how to create effective outreach programs to promote informed discussion about woody biomass. The notebook also contains a set of handouts: fact sheets on a range of topics including basic overview information, economics, environmental concerns, and policy; case studies of existing wood-to-energy facilities; and community economic profiles (one per state in the U.S. Forest Service’s southern region), illustrating the supply and cost of woody biomass in selected counties, as well as the potential economic impacts of wood-to-energy facilities. It also contains presentation slides and notes that can be adapted and used in outreach activities.

“The Guide is meant to be flexible, depending on the issues faced by each community,” said Lauren McDonnell, the coordinator for the Wood to Energy Program.

The program also created a community forum model, a means of educating and engaging the public in discussions about using wood for energy, without advocating for a particular outcome. During the forums, experts give a brief introductory presentation on the topic, and then invite participants to ask questions, share views, and explore the issue further. The presenters give basic facts and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using wood.

“A lot of the citizenry have concerns and they want to be engaged, but they need information before they can participate,” said McDonnell. “They have questions that we hope to answer.”

Handouts from the Biomass Ambassador Guide can be distributed during or after forums to provide additional information.

Southern communities in the wildland-urban interface, and particularly those near a thriving forest industry, are well-positioned to explore the possibilities of using wood for energy. According to the program, urban and interface activities that generate sources of wood include power line trimming, land clearing, storm damage, and thinning for fire and insect mitigation as well as for ecosystem restoration. Where forests are managed for pulp or timber, periodic thinning and harvest slash also create sustainable sources of wood. In addition, trees and short rotation woody crops can be grown for energy.

Community discussion about climate change, air quality, sustainability, biomass sources, availability, cost, transportation options, combustion technology, and economic impact may be needed to help identify appropriate systems that meet community needs for forested landscapes, a thriving economy and an equitable production of energy. Local leaders, decision makers and members of the public cannot engage in productive deliberation about meeting future energy needs without being informed. The Wood to Energy Outreach Program is designed to help inform these audiences about the option to use wood.

The Wood to Energy Outreach Program materials made their debut at the Woody Biomass Outreach Training in Atlanta, Ga. in September. The training was a joint endeavor by the Wood to Energy Outreach Program and the Southern Forest Research Partnership’s Sustainable Forestry for Bioenergy and Bio-based Products Program. It was attended by 77 representatives from state forestry agencies, energy policy offices, economic development groups and non-governmental organizations from across the South.

All of the Wood to Energy Outreach Program materials are available for download at http://www.interfacesouth.org/woodybiomass. Biomass Ambassador Guides can be ordered and CDs of the materials can be requested by emailing Lauren McDonell at mcdonell@ufl.edu.

The program is supported through a cooperative agreement between the USDA Forest Service, Centers for Urban and Interface Forestry; the University of Florida, School of Forest Resources and Conservation; and the Southern States Energy Board and is funded by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture.

4. Program Aims to Assist Women in Managing Forest Lands
Angered by how easily a family member had been taken advantage of by a logging contractor, Debbie Moreland has turned her frustrations outward through the Arkansas Forestry for Women program, which women in Arkansas are finding helpful when faced with similar predicaments.

In 2005, Moreland’s mother-in-law signed a contract without consulting family members or friends. Said Moreland, “She’s a strong and independent woman and it never occurred to her to ask anybody for help.”

“By the time we had realized what she had done she had essentially given away a large amount of timber for a very small amount of money,” said Moreland. “Immediately I began to wonder how many other women are out there … women who have allowed their husband or someone else to manage their land, and then suddenly due to death or divorce they’re in a position to manage it and they don’t know what to do.”

To get started, she built relationships with several local partners, including the
Arkansas Forestry Commission, the forestry division of the local cooperative extension, University of Arkansas-Monticello, NRCS state forester, Arkansas Forestry Association Education Foundation, Arkansas Extension Homemakers Councils and a local estate planning attorney.

Said Moreland, “I was very fortunate that we have such wonderful partners here in Arkansas. They’ve helped to provide money, materials and staff, and through their help we’ve been able to offer this as a free program.”

Since 2005 Moreland has held four sessions, each welcoming around 35 women in various spots around the state. “All we did was provide coffee and donuts,” Moreland laughed.

The two-and-a-half hour-long program is broken up into a few simple topics:

• How do I sell my timber?
• Who do I call?
• Timber and taxes
• The basics of estate planning

Moreland then walks meeting attendees through the components of each topic, and arms each person with a manual containing a wealth of resources and contact information. “We tried to give people everything they need to identify the red flags, and then the knowledge to know who to call,” said Moreland.

To promote the program, Moreland advertised it through the state conservation districts, county extension offices, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and several regional newspapers in heavily forested areas.

“The districts have been handy for us because a lot of times they knew first-hand of women who were out there and suddenly responsible for managing forest lands,” said Moreland. “And, we found that the districts were able to get us that one-on-one relationship with the landowners.”

Said Moreland, the relationship with districts has been mutually beneficial.

“It also gave the districts an opportunity to build a relationship with someone who may have never been a customer ... someone who inherited 100 acres of forest land but who lives in Philadelphia and doesn’t know anything about conservation districts.”

One program attendee, Betty Oliver, found the presentation and manual to be very helpful.

“The notebooks that were prepared for the program were very helpful since we got sound information from all professionals in the forestry area,” said Oliver.

A year ago, Oliver relied on some of the knowledge she had gained through the program when she and her husband thinned their 20-year-old pine plantation.

“We talked to two major timber companies before we signed a contract; in contrast, on the same type and age of plantation, my sister dealt with a local logging company (and experienced) a lengthy collection time. People need to have contracts before they make any arrangements for cutting timber.”

The program’s success has convinced Moreland that it could be beneficial to women in other states. “Originally it was only something I saw for Arkansas. After having met and talked with so many folks my thinking has changed,” said Moreland.

“Now we have folks call up to borrow our materials and we’ve been glad to do that. I’m a big believer that if someone has a great program, copy it.”

For more information about the Arkansas Forestry for Women Program, contact Debbie Moreland at (501) 425-2891, or email her at Debbiepinreal@aol.com.

5. Forestry Briefs

Joint Forestry Team Continues Work, Meets in Washington, D.C.
Representatives from National Association of Conservation Districts, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters (NASF) were in Washington, D.C. in March for the spring meeting of the Joint Forestry Team. The Team is a collaborative effort to facilitate interagency communication and improve forestry-related conservation assistance to private landowners.

At the meeting, executives from each organization, including NACD CEO Krysta Harden, met with the Team to discuss improving cooperation between the involved parties; overcoming barriers to providing forestry-related assistance; and finalizing the memorandum of understanding between the four organizations. The following day, members traveled to Maryland’s Eastern Shore to see two farms with successful integration of forestry and farming conservation practices and to talk with local NRCS and Forest Service employees about their work.

NACD is represented on the Joint Forestry Team by Oregon board member Johnny Sundstrom, Alabama board member Charles Holmes and consulting forester Doug Williams. Nebraska board member Orval Gigstad also represents NACD on the Team but was unable to attend the meeting.

Oregon State University Marketing Family Forest Landowner Estate Planning Program Concept across the U.S.
Oregon State University’s (OSU) Family Forest Succession Program, which was created to help family forest landowners and farmers navigate the human and legal issues of estate planning, may go nationwide. According to OSU, expanding the program would address a growing “national crisis”—aging landowners who become overwhelmed by family disputes and the complex issues of land transitions, leading to vast amounts of forest and farmland being lost to development. For more information, visit the Oregon State University website at http://www.oregonstate.edu.