National Association of Conservation Districts

Forestry Notes

June 2007
Volume XVI, Issue 7

| PDF version | Archive of Previous Issues |

1. NACD Has Fire Tips to Consider
2. SWCD Meets Forest Certification
3. Rural Living Handbook a Big Hit for Oregon District
4. NACD/NASF Meeting Plans Announced
5. Branching Out in Kentucky
6. UGA Creates New Biofuel From Trees
7. USFS Grant Application Deadlines Near
8. Communities See Big Potential in Small Logs
9. Legislative Update
10. Forest Agencies Ask Campers Not to Pack Firewood
11. Committee collecting catastrophic data

1. NACD Has Fire Tips to Consider

Another fire season has crept up on us, damaging our homes and forest lands in areas all across the country – Florida, New Jersey and California. Fire is a constant challenge at this time of year. Several fire-related inserts are included with this issue of Forestry Notes.

NACD, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Interior, recently produced a 16-page publication outlining the role conservation districts play in implementing the National Fire Plan. The booklet is an updated version of the Fire Plan publication that NACD released in 2002. Sections include legislative issues, funding sources, strategies and district success stories from around the country.

NACD has also crafted three sample press releases for distribution to local media. The press releases are aimed to help districts educate landowners on fire-preserving methods. There are editable versions of the releases available on NACD’s website, allowing districts to add local emphasis.

See the full-color Fire Plan publication and each of the three press releases on the NACD Web site, at http://www.nacdnet.org. Be sure to use these materials in your public education efforts.

2. SWCD Meets Forest Certification

Aitkin SWCD recognized by Forest Stewardship Council for Family Forestland Management

Minnesota’s Aitkin County Soil and Water Conservation District has been recognized as meeting the forest certification standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for its management of family forestlands in the county.

“With all the other forest certification activities going on in the county, we decided it was time to develop a program that makes it possible for family forest owners to also have their forests certified,” says Dennis Thompson, Aitkin SWCD forester.

The Aitkin SWCD joins the more than six million acres of Minnesota forests that have become FSC-certified since 1997.

“Minnesota has been a leader in forest certification and has more FSC-certified forestland than any other state in the nation,” says Kathryn Fernholz, executive director of Dovetail Partners and collaborator on the SWCD project.

SmartWood, an FSC-accredited certifier with offices in Northfield, Minn., conducted the certification evaluation of the district.

“SmartWood is the leading FSC certifier of family forests in North America and the management practiced by the Aitkin SWCD on behalf of the landowners they serve in their FSC Group certification is right in line with other exemplary family forest managers in Minnesota and across the U.S.,” says Dave Bubser, SmartWood U.S. region manager.

The first group of landowners to be certified through the Aitkin SWCD project includes a dozen properties and approximately 1,500 acres of forestland. Additional landowners in Aitkin County can enroll their lands and participate in the program by contacting Dennis Thompson at the Aitkin SWCD office.

“Forest certification offers an opportunity to link responsible forestry with a marketplace that is interested in environmentally-friendly products,” says Ross Wagner, director of economic development in Aitkin County. 

The project has been supported by funding from the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resource Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources and a Conservation Innovation Grant from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Certificates will be presented to the certified landowners during a workshop and public event in Aitkin County in September.

For more information contact: Dennis Thompson, Aitkin SWCD 218/927-6565 or dennis.thompson@mn.nacdnet.net; Kathryn Fernholz, Dovetail Partners 612/414-8041 or katie@dovetailinc.org or visit
http://www.dovetailinc.org/AitkinSWCD6107.html.

3. Rural Living Handbook a Big Hit for Oregon District

The Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District in southwestern Oregon has developed a handbook for rural landowners that offers a variety of tips and facts needed to live successfully in the countryside.

“One of the things we do as a district is go out and help landowners with resources and answering questions,” says Jackson SWCD natural resource specialist and district manager Randy White. “When you start to get the same questions you start to wonder whether you should just put together a publication.”

In December 2005, Jackson SWCD printed 3,000 copies of its Rural Living Handbook with the help of $10,000 from county funds and an anonymous $5,000 donation. It turned out to be a very popular publication among landowners.

“We thought those would last a while,” says White. “We went through 3,000 copies in less than a month and a half.”

Requests came in from all over the country – Alaska, Missouri, Florida – and ultimately the district chose to print a second edition. White says the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management all inquired about adding pages to the book. With funds from those agencies, the local chamber of commerce and a small number of advertisements, White was able to pay for a second press run of 10,000 copies.

The 36-page edition was released in January 2007. It includes a directory of phone numbers, historical facts about the county, tips on how to manage weeds and a healthy garden, riparian wetland and watershed management, a section on fire prevention and much more.

“It’s been popular and other counties in Oregon have asked for the template so that they can make adjustments and release a book in their county,” says White.

White admits he cannot accept full credit for the idea of the book. He was influenced by a similar manual released by Kitsap Conservation District in Washington. But he feels the need for the information is not regional, and is something districts should share with one another.

White says that he has received interest from other states, and he is more than willing to send districts a copy of his Microsoft Publisher file if they are interested in building a similar project.“It’s all just meant to help the rural landowners,” White says.

Contact: Randy White, district manager, Jackson SWCD at 541/734-3143 x3.

4. NACD/NASF Meeting Plans Announced

The NACD Forest Resources Committee and the National Association of State Foresters Resource Management Committee will meet jointly from August 6-8, 2007 in Show Low, Ariz.. Program topics include recovery efforts from the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire, stewardship contracting on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, carbon trading, biofuels, the Greater Flagstaff Forest Partnership and Southwest Sustainable Forest Partnership. In addition, a field tour will include Forest Energy Inc.’s wood pellet mill and hazardous fuel thinning projects in the White Mountains. For more information, contact Fred Deneke at 928/443-4546 or fjdeneke@yahoo.com.

5. Branching Out

Kentucky

The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Conservation Council’s (OKI-RCC) annual meeting in March featured the following presentations: Measuring and Mapping Cincinnati’s Urban Forest; i-Tree: Software Tools to Assess and Care for Neighborhood Trees; Reforest the Bluegrass (Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government); Emerald Ash Borer; and Riparian Corridor Protection.

The OKI-RCC is an affiliate of the OKI-Regional Council of Governments and includes representatives from nine conservation districts in the tri-state area. The group meets twice a year to share information and resources to promote conservation of natural resources. Kenton County Conservation District board member Jack Heist completed a term as chair of the OKI-RCC in March. Newly elected officers are: chair – Joe Glassmeyer, Clermont Soil & Water Conservation District; vice chair – John Kruse, Dearborn County Soil & Water Conservation District; and treasurer – Marc Hult, Kenton County Conservation District.

Contact: Kenton County Conservation District, 859/586-7903 or email: sall.aaron@ky.nacdnet.net.

6. UGA Creates New Biofuel From Trees

A team of University of Georgia (UGA) researchers has developed a new biofuel derived from wood chips.

Unlike previous fuels derived from wood, the new and still unnamed fuel can be blended with biodiesel and petroleum diesel to power conventional engines.

“The exciting thing about our method is that it is very easy to do,” said Tom Adams, director of the UGA Faculty of Engineering outreach service. “We expect to reduce the price of producing fuels from biomass dramatically with this technique.”

Adams, whose findings are detailed in the early online edition of the American Chemical Society journal “Energy and Fuels,” explained that scientists have long been able to derive oils from wood, but they have been unable to process it effectively or inexpensively so that it can be used in conventional engines.

The University of Georgia researchers have developed a new chemical process that inexpensively treats the oil so that it can be used in unmodified diesel engines or blended with biodiesel and petroleum diesel.

Here’s how the process works: Wood chips and pellets are heated in the absence of oxygen at a high temperature, a process known as pyrolysis. Up to one third of the dry weight of the wood becomes charcoal, while the rest becomes a gas.

Most of this gas is condensed into a liquid bio-oil and chemically treated. When the process is complete, about 34 percent of the bio-oil, 15 to 17 percent of the dry weight of the wood, can be used to power engines.

“Georgia has 24 million acres of forested land, and we could see increased employment and tax revenues based on this research,” said Adams.

The new fuel could reduce the amount of fuel Georgia imports from other states and other countries.

The fuel is nearly carbon neutral, meaning that it does not significantly increase heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as long as new trees are planted to replace the ones used to create the fuel.

The researchers have also set up test plots in Tifton, Ga., to explore whether the charcoal that is produced when the fuel is made can be used as a fertilizer. Adams said that if the economics work for the charcoal fertilizer, the biofuel would be carbon negative.

Although the new biofuel has performed well, Adams said further tests are needed to assess its long-term impact on engines, its emissions characteristics and the best way to transport and store it. “It’s going to take a while before this fuel is widely available,” Adams said. The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Georgia Traditional Industries Pulp and Paper Research Program and the State of Georgia upon the recommendation of the Governor’s Agriculture Advisory Committee. Contact: Tom Adams at tadams@engr.uga.edu or 706/542-0793.

7. USFS Grant Application Deadlines Near

Grant funding has traditionally been offered to expand partnerships and leverage funds from other sources. Today, another level of partnership is being pursued – those that are multi-jurisdictional, cross boundaries and work jointly with multiple landowners to address resource concerns on a landscape scale.

The latest examples of this are the two new grants being offered by the U.S. Forest Service.  First is the National Forest Restoration Working Partnership Grants. This offering is a one-time grant opportunity of $1.2 million to highlight examples of landscape-scale partnerships involving forest restoration and the use of woody biomass. Funding is provided to support 10 to 12 projects, which demonstrate working partnerships among conservation districts, resource conservation and development councils, state foresters, local government and community-based groups. Funding will support and capture successful projects and actions completed by the applicants to advance a shared vision of forest restoration and the many uses and benefits of woody biomass utilization.  Applications must be received by July 13, 2007.

The second opportunity is the Wood to Energy “Jump-Start” Program Grants. Conservation districts working jointly with their state forestry agency will want to ask about $800,000 that is being made available for projects such as an education program, preliminary woody biomass feasibility assessments at a public facility, an inventory of existing sources such as hazardous fuels or landfill waste; or a market assessment of the state boiler systems. Grants will be between $25,000 and $75,000 and state foresters must apply by June 29, 2007.

Both of these one-time grant opportunities are being offered through the Forest Service Technology Marketing Unit in Madison, Wis. More information on the programs and how to apply are posted on the Web site www.fpl.fs.fed.us/tmu.

8. Communities See Big Potential in Small Logs

Ron Ricketts travels to conferences such as the Small Log Conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to do a little matchmaking. So do Jack Phelps, Mary Driscoll, Steve Jaronik and Carmen Austin.

But it’s not exactly a singles’ club atmosphere at work here. Phelps and Ricketts show up with a display booth and lots of handouts, hoping to entice venture capitalists to invest in Fairbanks, Alaska. Jaronik wants to woo investors to Flagstaff, Ariz., as he passes out foam coasters and pens with a community development logo on them.

Austin, a biomass specialist, represents native tribes in New Mexico, and Driscoll represents a tribal post and pole venture in Montana. All have this much in common: they come from small communities with an abundance of small-diameter logs and a need for more jobs.

“We have resources available, and we want to keep in touch with each other,” said Austin, a member of the Ramah Navajo tribe and a program specialist for New Mexico State Forestry. “We have some stewardship packages and also belong to a wood cluster. These are some of the ways we are working to develop a plan.” Austin’s wood cluster maintains a website through www.fourcornersconsultinggroup.com.

Ricketts, a retired banker, grew up in John Day, Ore., before moving to Alaska in 1968. He took an interest in community development right away, and by the 1990s, he was envisioning an economic boost centering on indigenous birch forests growing in the Tanana Valley. As the Tanana Chiefs Conference settled old tribal claims in the 1970s, Ricketts and others built partnerships around forests, tribes and the community need for jobs.

“Alaska’s interior is difficult to access, and there is a huge non-developed road system,” Ricketts said. “Most of the logging is spruce, and it is a commercial crop that has been developed over the years. But we are now doing an inventory of birch, and in six or eight months, we should know the volume.”

Once the inventory of naturally occurring birch forests is done, community developers want to get beyond the limited specialty market of birch bowls and novelties, perhaps wooing a mill to the area. “The ultimate product would be cabinets, flooring and siding,” Ricketts said. “In the Pacific Northwest, red alder has been a species of interest, but there is a decline in supply.”

Forging tribal ties with Fairbanks economic specialists and foresters, Ricketts attends conferences in hopes of finding that deep-pockets investor wanting to build up a birch industry. The small-diameter trees, at four to seven inches in diameter, present a pure white wood that is attractive for specialty products, Ricketts noted. When the tree gets to the range of eight to 12 inches in diameter, it takes on more color.

As various small community representatives visited at the Small Log Conference in late March, many took away case studies centering on stewardship contracts and new partnerships. Driscoll said the Salish Kootenai tribe’s post-and-pole operation is still in its infancy, and she attended the conference to build a network. Presenters such as Bernie Ryan, a forest manager in New Mexico, said that because of the Tribal Forest Protection Act, tribes and tribal partners have especially good potential in forging stewardship contracts. Yet in Ryan’s territory, only two lumber mills remain, making added-value concepts difficult to develop.

“We have a perpetual quest for byproducts markets,” he said of his work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Mescalero Apache Agency. “These are isolated areas, and transportation costs often consume all the value.”

Source: Barbara Coyner, freelance writer for the Capital Press. Submitted by: Craig Rawlings, Smallwood Utilization Network, 888/745-5601 x203 or crawlings@mtcdc.org.

9. Legislative Update

Fire Suppression Funds and Payments to Counties:

President Bush has signed legislation providing additional funding for fire suppression. The emergency supplemental provides $370 million for the U.S. Forest Service and $95 million for the U.S. Department of Interior. The emergency funding can only be spent once both agencies have spent their suppression budgets and cost containment measures have been taken. The legislation also included $425 million for a one-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools program.

Farm Bill:

The House Agriculture Committee is working towards having mark-up and approval of the Farm Bill before the July 4th recess.  Interest in forestry has been favorable at the subcommittee level with the conservation title expanding the purpose of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to include forest management and landowners eligible to receive cost-share dollars through both the Conservation Security Program and EQIP for forestry practices.  It also requires that state foresters sit on the state technical committee. The latest mark-up is available at http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/2007FarmBill.html.

10. Forest Agencies Ask Campers Not to Pack Firewood

State and federal forest agencies around the country hope campers leave their firewood at home when they head to the woods this camping season.

The U.S. Forest Service and state forestry agencies in New Hampshire and around the country say transporting firewood lets tree-killing insects hitch a ride into the woods, contributing to billions of dollars in damage and needless work each year.

In a recent survey, New Hampshire learned that nearly half its campers brought firewood from home, including some that came from as far away as California and Ontario, Canada. Signs went up in New Hampshire this week, advising campers to leave their wood at home. The state would rather have campers get firewood at or close to their destinations.

New Hampshire is also making its request in letters confirming reservations at state campgrounds.

Many states are facing a specific threat – the emerald ash borer – an insect that has killed more than 20 million ash trees, mostly in the Midwest. At least a dozen states have announced voluntary or mandatory restrictions on hauling firewood over state lines.

Source: Office of the New Hampshire State Forester, 603/271-2214 or pbryse@dred.state.nh.us.

11. Committee collecting catastrophic data

The National Urban & Community Forestry Advisory Council (NUCFAC) is asking for input on urban forests damaged by catastrophic events such as hurricanes, floods, ice storms and fires as it prepares their 2007 recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture.   Conservation districts wanting to contribute their experiences and suggestions for changes in policy and procedures have until August 1 to provide comments.

Catastrophic events damage the urban forests and create large quantities of woody debris that communities must address in the aftermath.  On June 6, in Biloxi, MS, over three dozen federal, state and local officials from around the country offered comments on their experiences following catastrophic events. 

Charles Williams of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency pointed out that in his 14-years with the agency and managing 15 different federal disasters that “35 - 65% of the federal funds received are for handling the debris causes by these events”.  He went on to say that communities must have a plan in place to handle the debris and Gary Mullane of the American Society of Consulting Arborists pointed out the importance of including the city arborist in the planning process.  One common theme expressed was for the need to use urban foresters and arborists to determine the extent to which damaged trees should be removed.  The city officials from Biloxi and Pass Christian, MS, described how important trees are to their communities.