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

June 2009
Volume XVIII, Issue 7

 | PDF version | Archive of Previous Issues |

  1. Tough Times in Arkansas
  2. In Rough Economic Climate, Wood Could Create Jobs
  3. Biomes Project a Success Thanks to its Many Partners
  4. DOI Recognizes Weaverville Community Forest
  5. Joint Forestry Team Debuts Web Site
  6. NACD Receives PLT Gold Star Award
  7. Forestry Briefs

1. Tough Times in Arkansas
State’s wood industry has been hit hard. Could better days be on the horizon?

All across the country, the wood industry has felt the ripple effects of a poor economy. The State of Arkansas has perhaps felt it worse than most.

Ron Bell is the president of the Arkansas Association of RC&D Councils. The past year has been particularly hard on the industry in the northern part of the state, said the Independence County forest landowner.

At the end of 2008 the industry started to plummet. Lumber was stacking up at the mills instead of being shipped to secondary markets, and of the seven mills that had existed in the county only a short time before, only a couple have continued to operate. Other mills sold their equipment, laid off the workforce and shut down for good.

“Ultimately, all of our mills got to the point where they could not move material,” said Bell. “That’s just what it boiled down to.”

A local hardwood flooring plant closed after a series of layoffs, and a wood pallet mill had to curtail its operation after a major fire.

“The mills that are doing anything right now are those that are small, don’t have a lot of equipment, very low overhead, and access to low-grade timber. They’re selling residues to pellet mills and charcoal plants. And even those mills are in a bind right now for supply.”

A decline in the demand for timber has also impacted contractors and landowners.

“The service providers and landowners literally have no market,” said Bell. “Where loggers used to receive three or four calls a week from saw mills looking for logs, now the logger is calling saw mills constantly trying to sell those logs. And it’s not a prudent time for landowners to conduct any kind of sale.”

In the southeastern part of Arkansas, Sonny Jones is dealing with similar issues. Jones, who serves on NACD’s Forest Resources policy Group and whose company manages a number of contracts, said changes in worker’s compensation laws could also have a damaging effect on the wood industry in the state.

Before, said Jones, worker’s compensation was paid based on production (per ton). Now, however, new insurance policy is being written that calculates worker’s compensation based on payroll. During slow times for the wood industry, few companies will be able to afford to keep up with those rates, he said.

Then came the storm

With the industry booming, Bell and his group worked hard several years ago to offer training and technical assistance to forest landowners in northern Arkansas. Then when timber prices reached abnormally high rates in 2004 and 2005, they encouraged many of those forest landowners to take advantage of a peak market.

“For a large number of them it was good advice because during that time we moved about $200 million worth of product into marketplace above historical averages,” said Bell.

Others passed on the opportunity. When an ice storm ripped through parts of Arkansas in January, those landowners felt the damage the worst.

“Those landowners are learning the very hard lesson that a forest is a dangerous place to store wood,” said Bell. “Unfortunately we had to tell them that the ice storm happened at one of the worst possible times, and that it would be hard to find a logger to come in and take their material for free.”

A silver lining?

Most around the country, let alone Arkansas, admit the pulp and paper industry is probably not going to rebound as it has before.

“I think whenever housing gets back it’ll help,” said Jones, “but I don’t think the wood industry will ever return to what it was.”

Bell agrees, but he feels right now is the perfect time to take a step back and re-assess.

“It’s going to force us to take a look at this resource base and ask ‘What else can we do with it?’”

Biofuels production in the area could be part of the answer. Independence County has a $100 million biorefinery producing biodiesel from animal fat. A few years ago Bell and other forest landowners went to the plant to argue for why it might want to take a look at the 2.4 million acres of potential feedstock that surrounds the facility. Presently the plant is in the midst of a plan to construct another refinery that will use wood and other feedstocks to produce green diesel.

“To their credit,” said Bell, “they realize that it probably represents the greatest feedstock source that they have access to.”

He also believes that a 1,000 megawatt coal-fired electric plant may need to rely on wood to meet proposed renewable energy standards.

Long-term, these opportunities and others being proposed in the area could give a little bit of relief to Arkansas’ struggling wood industry.

“It’s our opinion, as forest landowners, that the rising renewable energy markets, whether it be liquid fuels or electricity, will become a major component of our market, to which we supply materials in the future,” said Bell. “And we’re kind of looking forward to that day.”


2. In Rough Economic Climate, Wood Could Create Jobs
As the country weathers one of the roughest economic crises it’s faced in years, the wood industry is forced to take stock. In many sectors, particularly pulp and paper, industry is struggling and jobs are being lost. But in other areas the wood industry is showing the potential for creating new, lasting jobs.

According to Danny Dructor, executive vice president of the American Loggers Council, the future of a large wood industry rests on how things are being defined in Washington D.C. this spring.

“It’s kind of hard to speculate on the number of jobs we’re going to create when we don’t know yet what types of facilities will come out of this,” said Dructor.

But Dructor does feel good about the potential he sees in the renewable markets relying on wood as a feedstock. A 100 megawatt Gainesville, Fla. Plant, for example, is expected to consume one million tons of biomass per year, he said. That amounts to more than 125 truckloads per day, which can equate to roughly five crews at a minimum of dozen or more workers each.

“Basically,” said Dructor, “you’re looking at replacing a paper mill with the jobs that will be created.”

And more 40 to 50 megawatt plants are on the way, he said. Wood pellet plants could also create jobs, albeit on a smaller scale (pellet plants need roughly 200,000 tons of feedstock annually to produce 100,000 tons of pellets).

“It’s an opportunity to replace some of the lost infrastructure we’ve seen. We’ve got loggers sitting on the sidelines wanting something to do and there’s no place for them to go right now. This could be an opportunity.”

Of course, said Dructor, it’s also an opportunity for landowners to find a market for their small diameter wood, and an opportunity to put foresters back out to work.

“There is real uncertainty as to whether pulp and paper will ever re-establish itself like it has in the past in this country, and there has to be something to take its place.”

Local projects throughout the nation provide a picture of the potential woody biomass to provide to create or retain local jobs.

In addition, conservative estimates indicate that for every 5,000 green tons produced, one new indirect job is created or retained within the local economy.

Said Steve Yaddof, program specialist at the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Lab, “These job numbers are national averages and of course, when you look at local projects these numbers can change - often times more jobs are created or retained.” 

In California, Bill Carlson acts as a consultant for companies looking to get into the biomass power market. Despite these rough economic times, any existing mills are willing to make the necessary updates to their facilities in order to enter new markets, he said, because they believe in the long-term survival of the mill.

Biomass can offer mills the potential to add 10 new jobs, said Carlson, and two or three times that many jobs can be added in the woods.

“At least one of their contracts will have stability," said Carlson, "and it will be the only time in the history of the mill that they can say that.”

The stability biomass offers to the industry will also help to stabilize the traditional jobs within the mill, argued Carlson. “That’s probably as valuable to the mill as the new jobs it creates.”


3. Biomes Project a Success Thanks to its Many Partners
Through the power of local partnerships -- and with the assistance of public, private and corporate contributions -- the Beltrami Soil and Water Conservation District has helped to establish an urban forest nearby J.W. Smith Elementary School in Bemidji, Minnesota.

More than a year ago, school officials began discussions with the district about the possibility of doing the biomes project on one of the school’s lots. The district obtained $15,000 through a Minnesota Department of Education grant for the biome project planning and the installation and maintenance of the first 20 trees.

“Environmental education has always been a strong interest of the school district,” said Jerry Stensing, the stewardship forester for Beltrami SWCD. “ In the Bemidji area we have three things: water, wildlife and woods … What better place to get the students to think about the impacts people have on the land and how we can do things better?”

The scope of the school forest soon magnified. The City of Bemidji has a tree ordinance requiring an inventory to be taken for all commercial development. The plan also requires a replacement and protection plan for all significant trees (defined as four-inch diameter long-lived trees or 10-inch diameter for other tress). Because a Menard’s project could not meet the demands of the ordinance, the company joined the school project and contributed more than half of the $47,000 project cost.

Beltrami SWCD was responsible for all planning and installation. The planning began in March 2008 and last fall the trees were planted.

Beltrami SWCD worked with a number of local partners during the planning phase, including local and city engineers, the city GIS department and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. The local fire department volunteered to provide watering equipment until the irrigation system is built, and Bemidji Regional Airport donated the forest’s first 20 trees. The NRCS Plant Materials Division in Bismark, N.D. even offered to contribute a number of prairie plants for the prairie biome within the forest.

“This project was a natural fit for the SWCD,” said Stensing. “We’re fulfilling our mission of bringing together all available resources. Everybody had a part in designing this.”

The school forest used 11 tree species and a total of 145 trees in the project. A number of construction and development trees – what Stensing called “orphans” – used in the project would have otherwise been destroyed and lost forever.

For more information on the Minnesota biomes project, contact Jerry Stensing, Beltrami SWCD stewardship forester, at 218-755-4339, or by emailing him at
jerry.stensing@mn.nacdnet.net.


4. DOI Recognizes Weaverville Community Forest
The Weaverville Community Forest (WCF) achieved national recognition when the U.S. Department of Interior presented the forest with its 2009 “Partners in Conservation Awards” in Washington, D.C. on May 7. The Trinity County Resources Conservation District in northern California has worked with the USDI – Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to implement the WCF, which is made up of about 1,000 acres of forested public land administered by BLM adjacent to the town of Weaverville. Using a stewardship contract, and with the support of the community, the Trinity County Conservation District has treated hazardous fuels making Weaverville less prone to fire damage. The stewardship contract provides for a commodity to be sold that generates funds to do other projects.  Residents of Weaverville learned about the threat posed by the forests that surround the community in 2001 when wildfire destroyed 13 homes. Soon thereafter discussions began with BLM regarding the community forest. Just recently, the USDA Forest Service has also joined the partnership, adding another 12,000 acres of forested public lands to the community endeavor. 

See the April 2009 Forestry Notes cover story “Stewardship at its finest” for more details on this project.


5. Joint Forestry Team Debuts Web Site
On May 4, the Joint Forestry Team (JFT) met in Washington, D.C. to brief organization executives on efforts toward improving the delivery of forestry programs. NACD President Steve Robinson and executives from the other JFT member organizations: National Association of State Foresters, USDA Forest Service and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, reviewed several activities as outlined in the memorandum of understanding.

The JFT also held a national webinar during the meeting with more than 120 offices across the country participating in learning more about the progress being made to work together more effectively. The webinar reported on delivery of local webinars and workshops that featured forestry aspects of the Farm Bill, and progress toward the integration of planning processes. 

The JFT has now established a new Web site as a resource of materials. The Web site contains a video of the national webinar, examples of partnerships (e.g., MOUs and agreements at the state, multi-state, watershed and landscape scale), outreach and marketing tools and other information are provided as a resource for leaders in other states or geographic areas, reports and news, success stories, resources and more.

Visit the Web site at http://www.jointforestryteam.org.


6. NACD Receives PLT Gold Star Award
Project Learning Tree (PLT) recently awarded its annual Gold Star Award to NACD. The Gold Star Award is the highest honor bestowed to PLT’s state coordinators and partnering organizations. The award acknowledges recipients’ dedication to the mission and goals of Project Learning Tree program as demonstrated by their years of exemplary service to the organization. PLT states that it is an immeasurably better organization because of the care and commitment, devotion and dedication, energy and expertise of these winners.

NACD has had a Memorandum of Understanding with PLT since 1995. The MOU was re-signed and updated in 2008 and has extended the partnership to include assistance with two pilot soils workshops in conjunction with Smithsonian and Soil Science Society of America. Joint efforts also include designs for additional soils workshops, a training workshop at the NACD Annual Conference, sessions at the PLT conference and coordinated planning on future NACD education projects.

NACD Stewardship and Education Coordinator Susan Schultz accepted the award on behalf of NACD at the International PLT Conference held in Indianapolis.


7. Forestry Briefs
NACD joins other organizations to propose biomass definition
NACD recently joined 66 other organizations in a letter to Congress proposing the inclusion of forest biomass as an energy source to meet a renewable electricity standard. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which is currently under debate in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, proposes a biomass definition that severely limits what would qualify as eligible renewable woody biomass. The coalition letter supports expansion of the biomass definition, recommends that eligible forest biomass comes from all forest types and ownerships, permits forest-health related harvests from federal lands and protects wildlife, water and soils. The full text of the joint letter is available on the NACD Web site.

Wilkes announced as USDA Undersecretary nominee
President Obama as announced his intent to nominate Dr. Homer Lee Wilkes as USDA Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment (NRE). If confirmed by the Senate, Dr. Wilkes will oversee the day-to-day operations of both the USDA Forest Service and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).

Currently, Dr. Wilkes serves as State Conservationist with NRCS in Mississippi. His service with NRCS spans more than 30 years in various positions across the country. Dr. Wilkes’ formal education includes Bachelors and Masters of Business Administration degrees and a PhD. in Urban Conservation Planning and Higher Education from Jackson State University. A Senate confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled.