National Association of Conservation Districts

Forestry Notes

May 2009
Volume XVIII, Issue 6

| PDF version | Archive of Previous Issues |

1. Taking Action in Arizona
2. Putting Stimulus Money to Work in Arizona
3. Maine FWG receives Two Chiefs' Partnership Award
4. Oregon Workshop Promotes Sustainable Forestry
5. Guide Offers New Buffer Ideas
6. FCWG Explores Forest Climate Policy
7. Forestry Briefs
8. Leadership Changes
9. News from the Hill

1. Taking Action in Arizona
Efforts throughout state aim to safeguard the forestland from wildfire

Over the past decade, few Western states have been consumed as immensely by fire as Arizona, which experienced a rash of fires from 2000 to 2004.

Said Stephen Campbell of the University of Arizona, Navajo County Cooperative Extension, “For about a five-year span, punctuated by the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, there was enough going on that everyone’s attention stayed on the threat that wildfire presented to communities.”

Like anywhere else, however, after the fires were suppressed and enough time had elapsed, the threat of fire diminished in the minds of residents and community leaders. Said Campbell, even the Rodeo-Chediski blaze, which ate up more than 460,000 acres of land in the Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside region, has faded from the active conscious.

However, a considerable amount of dead and down material still exists from the fire, and that combined with regrowth has created a growing concern that more fires are on the horizon in Arizona.

Campbell was part of a group that was formed to explore ways in which the threat of fire could be properly managed in the area. The Natural Resources Working Group included Cooperative Extension, the U.S. Forest Service, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, representatives from local government and the Apache Natural Resources Conservation District.

“Basically, all of the stakeholders at various levels were represented,” said Campbell.

Beginning this year, the process is being initiated to treat up to 30,000 acres of forestland in the Rodeo-Chediski burn area per year on a prescribed fire program aimed to both reduce fuel and improve wildlife habitat. According to Campbell, within eight years the entire section will have been treated just in time to repeat the cycle.

“What we’ve used this experience for is to demonstrate how poorly structured the forest was, and the results and the outcomes, without the loss of homes, is what the forest structure really needed,” said Campbell. “We’ve shifted from the fear of fire aspect to the forest health aspect.”

The Game & Fish office was particularly interested in prescribed fire as a way to protect a growing mule deer herd that had come from the Rodeo-Chediski Fire. After 10 or 15 years, the fire-dependent vegetation the mule deer thrives on begins to deteriorate, causing a decline in the herd. In addition, elk and turkey populations have grown significantly since the fire, prompting a sense of urgency to protect wildlife populations.

“All of that allowed us to go to the Forest Service and argue that the resource advantages of prescribed fire, along with the health of the landscape, dictates we have to do this,” said Campbell. “And one of the many benefits is the protection it offers for communities.”

Campbell admitted that the program wasn’t an easy sell to begin with. Environmental groups had concerns, and even agencies like the Forest Service were reluctant, he said, because of poor public relations experiences with prescribed fire in the past.

But the need to address what is a growing concern in Arizona had to be resolved. Two Arizona Forest Service rangers traveled to the southeast to study prescribed fire. Said Campbell, “They came back with a little different state of mind because they saw down there that over time you can re-establish a culture that accepts fire.”

The key to making the group work, said Campbell, is how the group’s partners are able to complement one another. “Nobody can be all things to all people. Everyone sorts out where they fit and we don’t compete with each other that way.”

Biomass as an option
In addition to the prescribed fire work, Campbell has also been involved in the White Mountain Stewardship Project, which harvests roughly 7,000 acres of biomass materials each year. The biomass pulled from those acres have been used primarily for pellets and small dimensional wood projects.

Herb Hopper of the Southwest Sustainable Forest Partnership is one of Arizona’s strongest advocates for biomass. The organization helps to develop markets for local industry to become engaged in, working to understand both the advances of the technology and the economical needs of the entrepreneurs it works with.

“I’ve been working with the Partnership for the past eight years, and some of my partners have been doing so for 12 years and our recipe has remained the same,” said Hopper. “And while you don’t see the huge return on investment that you would with a $200 million OSB plant, what you do see is a number of guys walking through town with a certain swagger because they’ve embraced the small-diameter material and play a role in achieving forest health.”

The products that come from the fuel reduction efforts in Arizona through the Southwest Sustainable Forest Partnership include a wide array of value-added products. “We respond to the market,” said Hopper, “and advise our entrepreneurs to develop products we feel the market will purchase.”

Hopper communicates with the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Lab in Madison, Wis. to help predict market shifts and identify new value-added opportunities.

“Rodeo-Chediski was a trigger to energize a lot of people. From that we were able to formally capture our efforts in what I regard as a three-legged stool.”

Said Hopper, the fire demanded something be done to address not only the many threats to the health of the forest landscape, but also the sociological issues which empowered people who had not been at the table.

“With smaller fires, I don’t think you find this type of response. With larger fires there are more people demanding more answers, and it forces the people who had already been at the table to better explain themselves and to collaborate.”

The third component, according to Hopper, is the utilization of the material that must be removed from the forest to resolve the first two issues of concern.

“Regardless of what groups decide is the largest tree that will be cut, there is an agreement that all of the small trees will need to be removed. There has to be aggressive, active management in the forest, and for the American taxpayer or property manager or private landowner to be able to pay for that there has to be a market for guys to take these logs and turn them into value-added products.”

Biomass has not only offered new market opportunities, but it has also offered market stability, said Hopper.

For example, he pointed out that Ponderosa pine in the Southwest less than 10 inches in diameter does not make for good traditional lumber product, and the process is labor-intensive. With established value-added markets, this material can find a home – at a profit to all.

“This is lucrative for our private landowner because he knows he can get his land treated at a lower cost per acre because the contractor is able to sell that product to someone who is going to make a profit. It’s an integrated system which should exist in balance.”

“The Rodeo-Chediski showed that commercial interests cannot exist on a year-to-year contracts,” said Hopper. “Previously, many firms, because they might get access to big logs to compensate small logs, could get by from year to year. To get by on small-diameter logs you have to meet the commercial interests halfway and give them a guarantee of long-term access to get that material.”

2. Putting Stimulus Money to Work in Arizona
Through the University of Arizona, Navajo County Cooperative Extension office, Stephen Campbell was charged with finding ways of putting federal stimulus dollars into at-risk communities.

In March and April, Campbell participated in the writing of six proposals for at-risk communities. One of the proposals was for the Blue River Community, a 30-mile stretch of homesteads along the Blue River in Central Arizona.

“Communities like that do not have the resources or organizing capacities to make these things work,” said Campbell. “With stimulus money we can focus on low-income property owners and get the work done without causing a hardship on them.” Stimulus money has a 90-10 cost-share ratio, and the 10 percent can come in in-kind contributions. “Other grants have come through to us at 50-50 and our landowners couldn’t come up with the money,” he added. “At 90-10 we can get the work done.”

Campbell will teach landowners in the Blue River Community how to do much of the work themselves, including workshops for things such as basic chainsaw safety.

About 35 to 40 percent of Campbell’s time is work related to the National Fire Plan, and in the past year his office has helped to facilitate a number of community wildfire protection plans.

3. Maine FWG receives Two Chiefs' Partnership Award
Article and photos by Sally Butler, Staff Forester, USDA NRCS, Farmington, ME. Article contributors include Roger Monthey, USFS and Kathy Hopkins, UMCE

The Maine Forest Working Group has been honored for its unique approach to landowner education and was among four group winners of the third annual Two Chiefs’ Partnership Awards announced this past December.

The Two Chiefs’ awards are presented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to recognize exemplary employees and projects from the Forest Service, NRCS, soil and water conservation districts, and State forestry agencies, who have worked collaboratively to support conservation and forest stewardship.

The Maine Forest Working Group (FWG) has developed an effective and inexpensive educational model that has directly reached more than 400 landowners that collectively own more than 10,000 acres of forest land.

The partnership is composed of members from the NRCS; U.S. Forest Service, State and Private Forestry, Durham Field Office; University of Maine Cooperative Extension (UMCE); Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine (SWOAM); Resource Conservation and Development Councils; Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD); Maine Department of Conservation, Maine Forest Service; and consulting foresters.

The FWG helps promote agroforestry, alternative forest products, and forestry issues throughout Maine by educating forest landowners about opportunities beyond traditional forest management. In Maine, agroforestry refers to working forests that provide income from non-timber and specialty forest products or provide conservation benefits such as air and water quality, erosion control, fish and wildlife habitat, energy biomass and fuel, recreation, and aesthetics. Since 2002, this group has held a two-day, statewide agroforestry conference and at least two regional workshops per year in locations from Presque Isle to Sanford. Soil and water conservation district supervisors and staff, including those from Kennebec County, Androscoggin Valley, Piscataquis County, and Central Aroostook, have helped in several different capacities, including the set up of workshop sites, taking registrations, and advertising the events. Former NACD Forestry Resources Policy Group member Steve Hobart held one such workshop at his home in Blanchard, Maine.

The regional workshops were successful due to initial planning with local focus groups, including SWCD supervisors and staff, and SWOAM members, so that topics important to the surrounding area were a priority.  Whenever possible, speakers were obtained from the local area and included landowners and foresters located near to the workshop sites in order to provide practical and timely information.

What distinguishes this effort from traditional forest stewardship outreach is the ability to reach and educate nontraditional forest owners. The one-day regional workshops were tailored to provide both indoor and outdoor learning experiences and were conducted on Saturdays to interest more landowners that don’t “work” in or with their forest.

4. Oregon Workshop Promotes Sustainable Forestry
Much of the forestland that surrounds Portland, Ore. is in need of repair and nurturing, but many of the landowners there are not able to assist in the effort even though most appreciate the ways in which the woodlands complement the City’s scenic beauty. Kammy Kern-Korot felt she was in a position to help do something about the issue, so the conservation planner for West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District began attending state meetings pertaining to forest concerns and options to landowners. After one particular meeting she cornered one of the speakers, Northwest Certified Forestry Director Ian Hanna, prompting Kern-Korot to invite Hanna to speak to landowners in her district.

Hanna opened a recent workshop put on by the District with a discussion on sustainable forest certification programs and the new market opportunities for green wood. Said Kern-Korot, the area has witnessed a spike in the demand for green building material, giving landowners a viable option for keeping their acreage wooded.

“A lot of our woodland owners want to keep the area wooded,” said Kern-Korot, “but they’re dealing with economic pressures. Many have other jobs and do not have the time to manage those lands.”

The goal of the workshop was to educate local landowners of the programs and market possibilities available to them to help keep their land forested. According to Kern-Korot, the majority of the landowners who took part in the workshop own 10 or fewer acres.

The workshop welcomed more than 75 people, including about 55 landowners from Multnomah, Washington and Columbia Counties. “We did a lot of outreach to bring in that number of people,” said Kern-Korot. “We were pleased with the turnout and the energy and enthusiasm.”

Other topics at the workshop included information on carbon sequestration credits and OSU Extension Forester Mike Bondi talked about his program partners with groups such as Oregon Small Woodlands Association and local soil and water conservation districts to host tours, workshops, and trainings to help landowners become master woodland managers or master gardeners.

Kern-Korot also used the workshop as an opportunity to explain the various services offered by the District, including free technical assistance to forest and other rural landowners, conservation education, and access to multiple incentive and grant programs, including the District’s own FISH and CARE grant programs, which are available to improve wildlife habitat and implement conservation plans, including those on forestlands.

Said Kern-Korot, the workshop was a success and the District intends to host more in the future.

For more information on the West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District or these workshops visit the Web site at http://westmultconserv.org/swcd, or contact Kammy Kern-Korot, conservation planner for West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, at 503.238.4775 ext. 108 or through email at kammy.kern-korot@or.nacdnet.net.

5. Guide Offers New Buffer Ideas
Conservation Buffers: Design Guidelines for Buffers, Corridors, and Greenways is a new publication by the USDA National Agroforestry Center. Representing a distillation and synthesis from over 1,400 research publications, the Guide contains over 80 illustrated guidelines for designing conservation buffers that are applicable nationwide and across rural and urban landscapes.

The Guide will broaden awareness of the multifunctional potential of conservation buffers and also facilitate discussion between planners and stakeholders. The Guide contains the Buffer Width Design Tool for Surface Runoff, another NAC R&D developed tool for conservation practitioners. Order free copies/download at http://www.bufferguidelines.net.

6. FCWG Explores Forest Climate Policy
NACD is part of a new coalition known as the Forest-Climate Working Group (FCWG) that has developed recommendations for U.S. forest components of federal climate legislation. Participants in the group – landowners, industry, conservation, wildlife, carbon finance, and forestry organizations – have been engaged in a year-long consensus process to develop this policy platform. Recommendations were developed in three areas: offset credits for forest carbon activities; beyond offsets – incentives, research, and technical assistance programs; and forest adaptation.

Drue DeBerry, the senior vice president for conservation for the American Forest Foundation said, “In the end, it was too important not to agree on core principles. There was unanimous agreement on the urgency of stepping up forests’ capacity to remove carbon emissions from the atmosphere. It’s cost effective, it’s ready now, and it works-while at the same time conserving water, wildlife and flood control properties of forests.”

U.S. forests and forest products already capture and store 10 percent of all U.S. carbon emissions produced each year, but the new FCWG said it can trap even more if landowner incentives and forest-carbon offsets are put in place. “This is something we can ramp up right now and that is exactly what policy makers want to see,” said Jad Daley, director for Northern New England Programs for The Trust for Public Land. “We don’t need to wait for new technologies, and we have enough experience with carbon markets to make it work.”

The forest products industry and forest landowners in the U.S. are well-positioned to make a significant contribution toward addressing climate change. The group’s recommendations could help forest owners by rewarding them for management practices that capture and store carbon and thereby offset industrial carbon emissions. “Private working forests are one of our nation’s most effective tools for addressing climate change,” said Dave Tenny, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Forest Owners. “The essential role of working forests should be at the forefront of consideration in crafting climate change solutions.”

Copies of the Forest-Climate Working Group Policy Platform can be found at http://www.forestfoundation.org/AFFFCWG.pdf.

7. Forestry Briefs

Report on State and Private Forestry redesign now available
The National Association of State Foresters and USDA-Forest Service recently reported on the 2008 State and Private Forestry Redesign projects that were conducted by state forestry agencies and their partners. The publication, released this March and titled Redesign Report Card, contains snapshots of 124 competitively funded projects in 47 states, islands and territories.

The projects focus on three priorities: “Protect Forests from Harm,” “Conserve Working Forest Landscapes” or “Enhance Public Benefits from Trees and Forests.” These three priorities are the major themes of the Redesign competitive process. Conservation districts have participated in a number of these projects.

For additional information on the state and private forestry redesign, visit
http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/redesign/.

Announcing a national database of state woody biomass utilization policies
A number of policy initiatives have been implemented in recent years to address particular challenges with using woody biomass.

The policies identified in this database provides a comprehensive guide to biomass legislation for each state in the country as of 2008. The full report is available on the University of Minnesota’s Forest Resources at http://www.forestry.umn.edu/publications/staffpapers/Staffpaper199.pdf.

25x25 carbon work group releases primer on carbon
The 25x’25 Carbon Work Group has developed a primer entitled Agriculture and Forestry in a Reduced Carbon Economy: Solutions from the Land.  This publication is intended to serve as a discussion guide to help farmers, ranchers and forest land managers better understand the opportunities and challenges they will face in a reduced carbon economy and the policy mechanisms that may be employed to create it.

The complete report can be accessed online at http://www.25x25.org.

Report examines 'True Cost of Fire'
A new report by the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition "The True Cost of Wildfire in the Western U.S." examines the data from six large wildland fires across the west to explore beyond the costs of suppression to give a more accurate telling of the cost to communities and the environment form large wildland fires. The true costs of wildfire are shown to be far greater than the costs usually reported to the public, anywhere from 2 to 30 times the more commonly reported suppression costs. A series of recommendations help focus the way these costs might be better considered. As the number of acres burned each year continues to increase, there is a justifiable sense of urgency. With a new administration and Congress with many new faces, the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition sees a fresh opportunity to address this long-standing forest management challenge.
The report can be downloaded at http://www.wflccenter.org/news_pdf/324_pdf.pdf.

8. Leadership Changes

Jensen named Deputy Under Secretary for NRE, Ag Secretary appoints WFLC executive director to post
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced in April the appointment of Jay Jensen as USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment (NRE). In this position, Jensen will have responsibility for the U.S. Forest Service, which manages 193 million acres of National Forest System lands and provides assistance to the more than 10 million family-forest landowners in this country.

The NRE mission area includes the Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). NRCS is the federal agency with primary responsibility for working with private landowners in conserving, maintaining and improving their natural resources.

“Jay Jensen brings the combination of on-the-ground and government experience that we need in this role,” said Vilsack. “He is a forester and wildland firefighter with an extensive background in policy, management, and legislation. I’ll be looking to Jay’s leadership as we address the health of our forests. This is a top priority for USDA because it relates to several critical challenges -- the intensity of forest fires, climate change, biomass and renewable energy, clean water and revitalizing forest-dependent communities.”

Since May 2005, Jensen has been Executive Director of the Council of Western State Foresters/Western Forestry Leadership Coalition. The Coalition is a federal-state governmental partnership. Jensen had served earlier as the Coalition’s Government Affairs Director.

He has also served as Senior Forestry Advisor for the Western Governors Association, where he was responsible for the biomass energy program. Before that, as lead forestry advisor for the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, Jensen helped develop programs under the 2002 Farm Bill. He has also served as lead policy analyst for the National Association of State Foresters.

Jensen holds a B.S. degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and an M.S. in Forestry from Colorado State University.

A southern California native, Jensen will be moving to the D.C. area with his wife, Shawna Friedman, and their young daughter, Kayden.

Martin named president and CEO of the American Forest Foundation
The American Forest Foundation announced that Tom Martin was unanimously elected by its board of trustees to succeed Larry Wiseman as president and chief executive officer. Wiseman, who founded the organization as its first president, has led AFF since 1983.

Martin is well-known from several decades of conservation leadership including senior positions at National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Earth Force, National Audubon Society, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

“I am excited to join an organization with such a long and successful history of conservation, forest stewardship, and environmental education,” Martin said. “This is a critical time for America to use incentives for sustainable forest management to help combat global warming, protect our drinking water supply and preserve critical habitat and open space. It is also critical for the long-term health of our forests and planet that the Foundation’s award-winning environmental education programs expand their reach.”

Said Colin Moseley, chair of AFF’s Board of Trustees, “With development pressures, declining markets and climate change, forest conservation becomes ever more challenging. Tom Martin brings the precise set of skills, experience and talent to address these challenges.”

 
Harden nominated for Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations
In early April, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate NACD Chief Executive Officer Krysta Harden as USDA’s Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations.

Said Steve Robinson, NACD president, “Krysta’s passion for conservation and public policy has served districts well over the last five years. She has placed a high priority on maintaining a credible, consistent reputation for conservation districts on Capitol Hill. She emphasized the need to provide necessary valuable resources to our members and the public alike. In all decisions, she took into account the effect on the land, local communities and landowners.”

Added Robinson, “We have confidence that she will continue to be a champion for conservation and her passion for conservation and sincere love for the land will guide her in her new role.”

Bonnie named senior advisor for Environment and Climate
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the appointment of Robert Bonnie as senior advisor to the Secretary for Environment and Climate.

In this position, Bonnie will help guide broad policy and program decisions with an emphasis on those concerning the nation’s natural resources and climate issues.

Bonnie is Vice-President for Land Conservation and Wildlife at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a non-profit organization that tackles the nation’s most serious environmental problems. Bonnie is a leading national expert on the use of markets as a means to reward stewardship on farms, ranches and forest lands, including carbon crediting and conservation banking for endangered species.

9. News from the Hill

Fire Suppression Funding - House passes FLAME Act
The Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act, or FLAME Act, (H.R. 1404), passed the House of Representative 412 to 3 on March 26. The legislation sets up an additional partitioned account for funding emergency wildfire suppression activities.  NACD has joined in signing letters to congressional leadership stating that the current method of budgeting for suppressing catastrophic fires needs to change and avoid the disruptive practice of redirecting funds for other programs mid-year to fight the fires. NACD also support efforts to reduce the costs of wildfire suppression. The Senate is expected to take up this message in the near future.

The Obama administration has included a funding request for fire suppression and emergency rehabilitation of burned areas as part of in the military FY2009 supplemental budget request. It includes $200 million for the Forest Service and $50 million for Department of the Interior. Funds would be available if existing appropriations will be imminently exhausted and would help bridge suppression activities until the FLAME Act is passed.

Renewable Energy and Fuel Standards – Cap and Trade Legislation
There are several Federal policies currently being developed in Washington, DC that are at a critical point. The Fuel Standard creates a government mandate to create a specific amount of fuel from renewable sources such as forest biomass. The Renewable Energy Electricity Standard (RES) is being worked on as part of Climate Change legislation. If passed it would do the same, but with the nation’s electricity production both have the potential to provide important new sustainable wood markets for private landowners. The NACD forestry partnership has been working with a number of coalitions attempting to craft appropriate language to support sustainable use of woody biomass for renewable energy. Two of these coalitions are working on the RES that would authorize the sustainable utilization of woody biomass for electrical power.  Both the House and the Senate chambers are currently drafting legislation they hope to advance by Memorial Day.

NACD supports State and Private Forestry Funding at $300.6 million
Annual funding for the U.S. Forest Service State and Private Forestry programs has been declining for the last several years and was below $263 million in FY2008. Close cooperation between the federal government and private forest landowners is encouraged. NACD supports State and Private Forestry programs and would like the partnership strengthened and staffed at a level that insures protection and increases the flow of goods and services from the private non-industrial forest lands. Critical Programs in State and Private Forestry include: Forest Health Management, Cooperative Fire Assistance, Forest Stewardship, Forest Legacy, and Urban and Community Forestry. Congress is now working on appropriations for next year and NACD supports increased funding for State and Private Forestry in the Fiscal Year 2010 Interior Appropriations Bill at a level of $300.6 million.