Board of Forestry
Minutes
November 5, 2004
The Board of Forestry met on November 5, 2004 at the Department of Forestry Central Office, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Convene Meeting
The formal Board meeting began at 9:06 a.m. on November 5, 2004. Those present were: Anitra Webster, Judy Guse-Noritake, Terri Bates, C. Harrell Turner, William T. Carden, McChesney Goodall, R. Easton Loving, Michael G. McGlothlin, E. Lee Showalter, Alpheus L. White, and Carl Garrison and Donna Hoy with the Department of Forestry.
Call to Order
Chairman Turner called the meeting to order.
Ms. Hoy called roll.
Changes and Adoption of Agenda
Chairman Turner asked if there were any changes that needed to be made to the agenda. As there were no requested changes, the agenda remained as written.
Recognition of Guests and Visitors
Chairman Turner welcomed Mr. Randy Bush, Virginia Forest Products Association; Mr. Paul Howe, Virginia Forestry Association; Ms. Ann Duff, Smurfit-Stone; Mr. David Schille, Georgia-Pacific Corporation; Mr. James Bowen, Mr. John Carroll, and Mr. Mike Foreman, Department of Forestry. Chairman Turner asked visitors to hold their comments on SJR75 until the Board had their discussion on the recommendations.
Approval of Minutes
Chairman Turner asked if there were any corrections/deletions to the September 22, 2004 minutes distributed earlier. Ms. Webster pointed out a typographical error on page 5 and asked that the minutes be corrected. Chairman Turner stated the minutes will stand approved as corrected by Ms. Webster.
Hearing of Citizens and Delegations
None
Information Items
None
State Forester's Report
Chairman Turner recognized Mr. Garrison as the new State Forester for the Department of Forestry.
Mr. Garrison reported offers have been made for the Forest Management Chief and Research Chief positions. The Forest Management Chief is a co-chief position until the current Forest Management Chief retires. The Forest Health Chief plans to retire in January. Plans are to advertise and hire a new Forest Health Chief to work with the current Chief until he retires. The Department continues to fill Forester and Technician positions.
The Department continues to work on the IFRIS program (information management system) to track activities, accomplishments, tract information, GIS, etc.
Mr. Garrison reported the annual equipment sale was very successful. The Department
made approximately $250,000 off the sale.
There hasn’t been much activity so far this fall fire season. We do not
anticipate any major fires this year.
The Department will have one piece of legislation to transfer State Forest regulations from the Department of Conservation and Recreation to the Department of Forestry.
The Department has submitted a budget request. Will have to wait until the Governor releases his budget bill on December 20 to find out where the Department stands.
The Virginia Farm Bureau meeting will be held the end of November. The Department will be represented at that meeting.
The Environment Virginia Conference will be held at Lexington next April. The Department of Forestry will be a sponsor of this conference. There will be slots for Board members to attend.
Mr. Garrison reported he will meet with the State Police next week to revisit the STARS radio program. Mr. Garrison will keep the Board posted on this issue.
Ms. Bates questioned if there was any news on the appointment of the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry. Mr. Howe reported that names had been submitted to the Governor. He stated the Governor had recently made the statement that an appointment should be made by January 1. This will be a 12-month term and could change when a new Governor is appointed.
Action Items
SJR 75 Study Report
Chairman Turner reported that there were originally eight recommendations from the public meetings. After focus group and sub-committee meetings, it was decided that some of the recommendations were important and should be included in the report as supporting statements.
Chairman Turner reviewed each of the five supporting statements and asked the Board to comment on each. The Supporting Statements are listed below, with comments made.
- Support the Right to Practice Forestry law. The Board felt this was important and should be included in the report.
- Support the Purchase of Development Rights effort at the county level utilizing the Virginia Farmland Protection easement template. Chairman Turner asked Mr. Foreman to give the Board some background information on the Virginia Farmland Protection program. The Board agreed to support the purchase of development rights effort and will include in the report.
- Support the results of the Forest Economic Summit sponsored by the Secretariat of Commerce and Trade. The Board felt the word “results”should be changed to “concept”or “efforts”since the results of the Forest Economic Summit are not available at this time. This statement will be included in the report.
- Support the repeal of the state and federal inheritance tax. Mr. Showalter questioned what the total dollar amount generated from state inheritance tax is. He stated it would be good to know that information before including this support statement in the report. Chairman Turner recommended including some detailed information on the total dollar amount generated from inheritance tax with a specific amount generated from forestland.
- Support landowner compensation for visual and other buffers encumbered through county/city ordinances. Mr. Loving recommended this statement be blended into the justification for the Right to Practice Forestry Law statement. Mr. McGlothlin questioned if this should be included as a recommendation to be studied by the State to determine the affect on landowners. The Board will recommend a task force study group look at how this is handled by different jurisdictions across the state and look at active forest management within the buffers and options to compensate landowners for those buffers.
Recommendations
- Institute a consistent statewide land-use taxation program. There was a lot of discussion on this recommendation. The Board agreed with the concept, but most did not like using “consistent”and would support this recommendation if worded differently. Ms. Webster recommended that “for forestlands”be added after “land-use taxation program”. Mr. McGlothlin moved that the word “consistent”be left out. Ms. Bates seconded the motion. Mr. Loving suggested the motion be tabled. He did not feel the Board should tie the hands of Department staff that are charged with writing the report. Mr. McGlothlin moved that the recommendation be amended to state there would be consistent methodology but the acreage and tax rates can vary pursuant to the decision of the locality. Ms. Guse-Noritake seconded the motion. Ms. Webster recommended this change be given to Department staff for consideration and not be a motion. Chairman Turner stated Department staff will consider the language in the recommendation. All members were in favor.
- Increase funding for the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation to acquire forest conservation easements. Mr. Foreman gave the Board some background information/ funding figures for the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation. A supporting statement should be included in the report stating the Board is supportive of current Virginia conservation tax credit programs. This recommendation will be included as written. Justification bullets will be included that address some of the issues discussed by the Board.
- Create a Governor’s Commission on Forest Education and Outreach with
the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry as lead. The Board mentioned several
other groups that are not included in A (Association of Counties, Virginia
Tech College of Natural Resources, Chesapeake Bay Program, etc.). It was
recommended that “but not limited to”be included in the recommendation
behind include.
A. Commission members would include the Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, Board of Education, Virginia Forestry Association, Virginia Forest Council, and Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and Virginia Forest Products Association.
B. The purpose of this Commission would be to develop policy and program recommendations for forest education and outreach across the Commonwealth.
- Fully fund the Reforestation of Timberlands (RT) Program. Chairman Turner
asked for comments from guests on this statement. Mr. Bush stated he would
encourage the Board to consider modifying this recommendation to encourage
greater efforts to educate landowners on hardwood practices. He also requested
that the Board rephrase B. to read, “Improve the tax collection compliance”.
Ms. Duff, on behalf of the RT Board, stated the RT Board had sent a mailing
to 3,000-4,000 entities across the state to make individuals aware that this
tax exists. The RT Board is seeking ways to make sure the tax payment is
enforced and wants to ensure it is being paid, rather than increasing the
tax rate. Mr. Howe questioned where this recommendation came from. He had
not heard this come up from the hardwood industry or in the four public meetings
he attended, and was wondering if it came out in the focus group meeting
or exactly where it came from. He stated the Board’s report should
strongly urge the State to meet its obligation to fully match the existing
severance tax as stated in the law.
Mr. Loving stated he was reluctant to support this statement as written because of the unintentional consequences on the private sector if the Board does something to increase the hardwood severance tax which will have a net affect of driving the private sector away from the table on the pine side. The Board will include a recommendation in the report that the hardwood program be reviewed. Chairman Turner summarized the comments stating a strong statement needs to be included on the State paying their part of the match and the Board agrees there is a need to improve tax collection compliance. The Board will recommend a review of the hardwood program to see what options are available to improve hardwood management. The A. statement will be deleted from the report. Chairman Turner stated the Board could include a statement that the Board of Forestry and RT Board wish a study on the hardwood severance tax issue.
A. Enhance incentives to landowners by increasing the hardwood severance tax and include hardwood cost share options in the current program.
B. Improve the tax collection percentage.
- Restore funding for the Department of Forestry to create 6 forest conservationist
positions within the Department of Forestry. Mr. Showalter recommended that “minimum
of 6”be added to the statement. All were in agreement to leave this
in the report and to add “minimum of”in the statement.
A. These positions would work with county planners, land trusts and planning district commissions to lend expertise on forest conservation issues. - Conduct further study into developing a voluntary, statewide “forestland
protection”program. It was recommended that in lieu of “Stewardship
Plan”in B., use “forest management”plan instead.
A. This purpose would be to offer forest landowners incentives to holding forest land for long periods (25 to 50 years). Incentives could be a guaranteed flat tax or landuse tax, tax exemption on standing timber value until timber is harvested, reduced severance tax, or annual “rental”payment similar to the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).
B. In exchange, the landowner would have to be a good steward, possess a Stewardship Plan, and allow forester inspections to ensure compliance with the program.
Mr. Bush questioned if groups will be able to review/comment on the next draft of the report. Chairman Turner responded the Board will meet one final time to finalize all recommendations before the report is sent to the General Assembly and comments were welcomed prior to that meeting. A complete package will be sent to all Board members for review by November 22.
Committee Liaison Report
None
Other Business
No other business.
Scheduling of Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Board will be December 10, 2004, 9:00 a.m., at the Department of Forestry Central Office in Charlottesville. The Attorney General’s Office will conduct Conflict of Interest training for the Board at this meeting and all members are encouraged to be present.
Chairman Turner asked all members to come prepared to schedule meetings for
next year.
The Environment Virginia Conference is scheduled for April 11-13 in Lexington,
Virginia.
Adjournment
There being no further business, Chairman Turner made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. The meeting was officially adjourned at 12:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna Hoy
Recording Secretary
c: Board Members
Dr. J. Michael Kelly, Dean, College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech
Mr. J. R. Bush, Virginia Forest Products Association
Mr. Paul Howe, Virginia Forestry Association
Mr. David E. Anderton, Jr., Association of Consulting Foresters
Ms. Maxine Kenny, WMMT News
Mr. Steve Brooks, Virginia Forest Watch
Ms. Ann Duff, Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation
Mr. Jim Mooney, Virginia Loggers Association
Mr. Gerald Gray, Virginia Forest Watch
Ms. Donna Pugh-Johnson, Virginia Agribusiness Council
Ms. Martha Moore, Virginia Farm Bureau Federation
Mr. Roger Sherman, MeadWestvaco Corporation
Ms. Staci Henshaw, Auditor of Public Accounts
Mr. Charles F. Finley, Jr., Forest Landowners Association
NOTE: Tapes of Board meetings are on file in the Office of the State Forester.
Last modified: Monday, 19-Oct-2009 15:01:05 EDT
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