Board of Forestry
Minutes
April 11, 2005

The Board of Forestry met on April 11, 2005, in the Neikirk Hall Board Room of Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia.

Convene Meeting

The formal Board meeting began at 10:00 a.m. on April 11, 2005. Those present were: Mary T. Bates, Judy Guse-Noritake, Melvin L. Harrell, R. Easton Loving, Michael G. McGlothlin, E. Lee Showalter, C. Harrell Turner, Anitra B. Webster, Alpheus L. White, and Carl Garrison and Brenda Taylor with the Department of Forestry.

Call to Order

Chairman Turner called the meeting to order.

Ms. Taylor called roll.

Changes and Adoption of Agenda

Chairman Turner asked if there were any changes that needed to be made to the agenda. There being no changes, he proceeded with the agenda as printed.

Approval of Minutes

Chairman Turner asked if there were any additions/corrections to the
December 10, 2004, minutes distributed earlier. Mr. Loving made a motion for the minutes to be approved as written. Ms. Bates seconded the motion.

Recognition of Guests and Visitors

Chairman Turner welcomed Ms. Tammy Belinsky, Virginia Forest Watch; Mr. Bud Watson, Model Forest Policy Program; Mr. Gerald Gray, President of Virginia Forest Watch; Ms. Katie Kiger, AgriBusiness Council; Mr. Andrew Smith, Virginia Farm Bureau; Mr. Jim Mooney, Virginia Loggers Association; Mr. Paul Howe, Virginia Forestry Association; Mr. Dave Slack, Mr. Ed Zimmer, Mr. Ed Stoots, Mr. John Campbell and Mr. Mike Foreman, Virginia Department of Forestry; Mr. Randy Bush, Virginia Forest Products Association; Mr. Robert S. Bloxom, Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry; Mr. Roger Sherman, MeadWestvaco Corporation.

Hearing of Citizens and Delegations

Mr. Gerald Gray announced that Tammy Belinsky, Bud Watson, and Rupert Cutler of Roanoke City Council and he met with Secretary Bloxom last week to share information with him about Forest Watch and to discuss the Department of Forestry's Water Quality program. Mr. Gray stated that they would continue to support the Department's efforts for increased funding and positions. He distributed a handout entitled "Virginia Forest Watch White Paper - Virginia's Forest Resources," which includes a Statement of Issues, Background and Recommendations for the Department of Forestry in dealing with bad logging and offering incentives to landowners and loggers to practice sustainable forestry and to follow best management practices. This handout was also shared with Secretary Bloxom in their meeting with him. Mr. Gray passed around photographs of a bad logging job in Buchanan County and encouraged an inspection of this tract in the future.

Mr. Bush announced that Arthur P. Flippo passed away. Mr. Flippo was a great leader and friend of forestry for many years.

Mr. Bud Watson, who is with the Model Forest Policy Program and also works closely with Virginia Forest Watch, stated that he has worked on policies which concerned the Chesapeake Bay water quality and with the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute (VNRLI) regarding the need for Forest Policy. He supports the open dialogue approach that resulted in the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act and encourages this approach as work proceeds towards Forest Policy where stakeholders have the opportunity to come to the table and work with the Department to develop that policy.

Secretary Bloxom expressed his pleasure at being at the meeting and his appreciation for the Board of Forestry's involvement in developing a positive forestry program. He stated that he is very impressed with the Board and the success of forestry and agriculture depends on their involvement and interest. The movement into the future is based on the Department's vision and mission of protecting and developing healthy, sustainable forest resources. This mission is important economically; and as the demand for forest products increases, there is a great future for forestry in Virginia. The number two export from Virginia is wood, and the future depends on a strong forest industry. He expressed his appreciation for the Board's continuation to develop programs for the future. He stated that, at some point in the future, there may be a need for enforcement rules to be put in place; however, this should be at the request of the Board and forest industry, and we should continue to do what we're doing now at maximum levels and continue the progress that we've made.

Information Items

None

State Forester's Report

Mr. Garrison reported that two bills were passed by the 2005 General Assembly that had a direct influence on the Agency. One was a housekeeping bill that transferred RT (Reforestation of Timberlands) and State Forest regulations from Department of Conservation and Recreation to the Department of Forestry. The second bill changed Arbor Day from the second Friday to the fourth Friday in April.

The Agency received level funding in the budget for staffing. Five decision packages were submitted to the Secretariat of which only two packages were approved for additional budget by the Governor. Approval was received for approximately $750,000 for high speed internet connections for field offices and computer replacements for old computers in field offices. Another $150,000 was approved for firefighting equipment. An increase in RT allocation for this year was received in the amount of $500,000. The State's matching portion of $250,000 was already in place for the industry's self-imposed severance tax, which brings the total for RT matching grants to $750,000.

On April 23 and May 7, 2005, the Department will host its first spring gobbler turkey hunt for handicapped, wheelchair-bound sportsmen at New Kent Training Center in partnership with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

A Personnel Camp for Agency employees will be held on the campus of Virginia Tech on May 24 - 26, 2005. Board members are invited; and, if interested, should complete and return the registration form provided in their packets to either Debbie Howe or Donna Hoy. Mr. Garrison encouraged Board members to attend so they can network with field employees and let them know how important they are. Debbie Howe, Human Resources Director, developed the program for the camp.

Holiday Lake Forestry Camp will be held on June 20 - 24, 2005, and promises to be bigger and better than last year. Lisa Deaton is the Director of the camp this year.

The RT Board is interested in meeting jointly with the Board of Forestry at the fall meeting. Suggested locations for the meeting are Cumberland State Forest or New Kent Training Center. Chairman Turner will contact Ann Duff, Chairperson for the RT Board, regarding the meeting date.

The Department has advertised 10 positions (six technicians, two foresters, one conservation educator, and one wildlife biologist). The Department will hire six student interns for the summer (one per region) which will offer the opportunity for college students to receive experience in forestry and become familiar with the Department of Forestry.

Negotiations are still in progress to finalize the deeds for the Matthews State Forest. Mrs. Matthews passed away in February.

Mr. Garrison asked John Carroll to give a report on the Nursery Program for this year. Mr. Carroll stated that all obligations were met and most seedlings were sold. The weather was not totally cooperative; however, this year's sales were better than last years. The Department’s Nurseries are self-supporting. An idea is being promoted by Regional Foresters and the Forest Management staff to produce a Jamestown Oak for the 2007 celebration.

Mr. Garrison reported that re-inspections of last year's plantings are being completed for detection of fusiform rust. Most of the surveys have shown that infections are in the range of 10 to 20 percent with substantially good, healthy trees to make a viable stand for the landowners. Only a handful of tracts had significant problems. The Department will work closely with those landowners.

Last year’s aerial spray program caused some burning of pine trees; growth was stunted. Dow Chemical Company said they would stand by their product and will make good on the problems that exist. They are working through a third party contract with Virginia Tech to develop an evaluation process and to hire a consultant to evaluate each stand that was sprayed and damaged last year and assess what the loss might be and whether to start all over, or whether the damage will grow out of the trees without any real devastation. The Department will work to ensure that Dow follows through with this issue. The chemical used last year will not be used this year for aerial spraying.

This year's forest fire season activity has been kept to a minimum due to the rain received throughout the State. Approximately 230 fires with low acres have been reported since
January 1, 2005. Mr. Garrison called attention to a booklet by the Southern Group of State Foresters entitled "Fire in the South", which was included in their packet. This booklet shows that the west, and specifically California, gets the most notoriety and news coverage for fires; however, the actual bulk of the number of fires is from the southeastern United States. It is noted that the 13 southern states are among the fastest growing in the nation according to the July 2001 census of states in the southeast. The southeastern states lead the nation in the annual number of wildfires with an average of more than 45,000 wildfires per year. The southeastern states are more aggressive with their fires and get them under control faster, but they do not receive as much publicity as the large western fires. John Campbell, Public Relations Director, will work to ensure that the Department gets media attention for their firefighting efforts in the future.

A proposed local ordinance in Clark County would affect forestry operations, requiring a mandatory buffering system and a forest management plan for a landowner's property in cooperation with all neighboring landowners, making landowner information public. E-mails will be forwarded to Board members to keep them up-to-date on this issue. There is a web site linkage to this ordinance.

John Campbell gave a brief overview of his objectives for a Communication Plan. One goal requested by State Forester, Carl Garrison, is to raise the profile and the visibility of forest resources and the Agency. Mr. Campbell has developed a marketing plan for the Department. A draft of this plan was distributed to Board members. Mr. Campbell's main communication goal is to increase awareness among Virginians of Department programs, services, activities and personnel in support of the mission to protect and develop healthy, sustainable forest resources. Impact objectives include 1) establish top-of-mind awareness of the Department among selected stakeholder audiences, 2) inform and educate citizens about the economic and environmental impact of forestlands in Virginia, 3) increase awareness among Virginians of the importance of good forest management, conservation, stewardship and resource protection, 4) improve the promotion of Department-managed lands and available forest resource products, and 5) increase education and passive recreational visitation to Virginia's State Forests.

The Department's Strategic Plan calls for the development and implementation of a Forest Policy for the Commonwealth. An internal committee of Regional Foresters and Board member representatives was established to develop a process and suggest verbiage to submit to the Board. Article XI of the Virginia Constitution states that the Commonwealth will conserve, develop and utilize Virginia's natural resources but doesn't mention forest resources. This very broad and all encompassing statement does not say that our forest resources are very important. Therefore, to raise the status and profile of Virginia's resources and meet the needs of the Commonwealth, the committee has proposed a Forest Policy to give direction and vision for the Commonwealth. Mr. Ed Stoots gave a brief overview of the Committee's development of the proposal to adopt a Forest Policy statement. The process was begun in August, 2004. Surveys were conducted of 16 states of which six had a Forest Policy in their Code. This proposed Forest Policy statement is not a Forest Practices Act. The committee's last reviewed proposal received some verbiage changes by Legislative Services.

The recommendation before the Board is to adopt a Forest Policy statement for Virginia that is sufficiently broad and protective of the forest resources. Support is also requested from the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry and selective groups from around the State in meetings to be held.

Ms. Noritake asked what the procedure would be to carry this forward through legislation. Mr. Garrison answered that it would require approval by the Board of Forestry. If the Board accepts this proposal, a series of meetings with Department partners (VFA, Forest Council, industry, associations, organizations, and other agencies) and public meetings with stakeholders would be held for comments. Then it would be submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry for his approval; submitted to the Governor, and he would either find a sponsor or return it to the Department to find a sponsor depending on whether he wants this proposal in his package. It would then be passed as a bill by the General Assembly, conferenced and signed by the Governor, and placed into the Code of Virginia.

Ms. Noritake asked if taking this proposal to the public for comment is required by statute. Mr. Garrison stated that it is not required, but this would be an effort to get as much cooperation among the Department's partners in a collaborative effort to move forward in making forest resources more visible as to their importance.

Ms. Noritake asked if the Board would be involved with the public hearings. Mr. Garrison stated that he would like the Board's support and involvement at the hearings, but it would not be required. Ms. Noritake agreed that it would be important to have this public outreach. She also asked if the proposal would be presented to local governments (counties) for comments as well. She stated that we hear that one of the biggest threats to forestry is development, and it would be a good idea for fast-growing counties to be thinking about this; put forestry, in general, in front of the public to get support across the board. She also suggested developing an urban forestry plan. She stated that the policy statement would give the Department more authority, more attention, and more resources. She questioned if, after receiving comments, the proposal would be amended. Mr. Garrison responded that it could possibly be amended but that it would be presented to the Board of Forestry before submission to the Secretary.

Mr. Loving recommended that, due to the level of effort and energy by the committee members in developing the Forest Policy proposal, the Board accept the work of the committee and ask the State Forester to proceed with collecting views and comments of the forestry community as a whole with the notion that the subject will be revisited by the Board at their June meeting if there are any substantial changes to be made. Mr. Garrison stressed that the Board will not be left out of the process as they are the advisory board for the agency.

Mr. McGlothlin questioned the implication of the last sentence of the proposed Forest Policy. Mr. Garrison responded that it just means the Department of Forestry will work with partners and the Board using the Strategic Plan adopted by the agency. This policy is not meant to create more power for the Department. It gives recognition to the resources that are needed and gives legislative justification for development of future programs, especially if Legislature questions why we are looking at forestland conservation since there is nothing in the Constitution that says we need to be looking at forestland conservation. This will give the legislators justification to be able to focus on these important issues as they come up.

Mr. McGlothlin made the motion to endorse this policy. The motion was amended that the Board of Forestry endorse this draft statement to go out to gather public input. Ms. Webster seconded the motion. Mr. Loving clarified that the Board would have a chance for review at its meeting in June or at subsequent meetings after meetings are held with the forestry community. The motion passed.

Chairman Turner asked that the Board members who served on the committee continue to work to identify groups that need to be involved in this process.

Action Items

Chairman Turner asked for a report from the Nominating Committee for the Election of Officers. Mr. Showalter stated that the committee's recommendation is that Chairman Turner and Mr. Loving be re-elected as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board of Forestry, and he moved that this recommendation be accepted. The motion was seconded by Mr. White and Mr. McGlothlin simultaneously. The motion passed.

Mike Foreman gave a presentation on the Senate Joint Resolution 75 Review and Senate Joint Resolution 367 Action Plan. Last legislative year, SJR 75 was passed that called for the Board to study the provision of incentives to private landowners to hold and preserve their forestland. The Legislative Report was completed in December 2004 and offered six recommendations and five supporting statements. Recommendation #6 was to continue this study effort.

Following Recommendation #6, this study has been continued under Senate Joint Resolution 367 (SJR 367). The basis given for this continuance was the lack of time needed to fully investigate opportunities and landowner options for forestland preservation and to further define and seek answers to the continuing concern of local ordinances and their impact to the economic viability of private non-industrial landowners.

SJR 367 requests two additional areas of work. First, the Board…shall examine the relative merits of developing a voluntary, statewide forest protection program and second, the Board…shall examine the impact, financial or otherwise of local ordinances on the ability of non-industrial, private landowners to manage their forestland.

The first recommendation for the Action Plan for Work Area #1 (Forest Protection Program) is to conduct an inter-agency and stakeholder programmatic review through a survey developed and delivered to stakeholder groups to include questions such as the role of perpetual conservation easements, taxes and their impact, conservation funding, and, in particular, what new and/or innovative ideas would limit forest loss. The work for this portion of SJR 367 would constitute this programmatic review and survey along with recommendations for advancing the ideas generated during the review.

For Work Area #2 (Impact of local ordinances of landowner forestland management), Dr. Mike Mortimer of Virginia Tech has agreed to incorporate his study of problem ordinances and local comprehensive planning into the SJR 367 study. Also, the Department proposes conducting a series of face-to-face interviews with a random selection of county administrators with input on the questions coming from the forestry community including the Virginia Forest Council. Questions will be developed to ascertain the knowledge base of county administrators regarding forest practices and their belief system about the role of county government and land use practice. In addition, the Department will develop several case studies outlining landowner impacts due to these ordinances.
This portion of the study will report on Dr. Mortimer's work, present the findings of the county administrator interviews, highlight several case studies, and present recommendations for minimizing any county ordinance impact on private, non-industrial landowners.

The timetable for completion of Work Area #1 is September 1, 2005, and for Work Area #2 is September 30, 2005. The report of findings and recommendations will be completed by November 1, 2005, for review by the Board.

Chairman Turner asked for comments or questions on Mr. Foreman's presentation.

Ms. Noritake, referring to conservation funding, stated that we should look at increased funding at the federal level as well as the state level.

Mr. McGlothlin offered comments regarding logging in Southwest Virginia versus logging in Tidewater, which can be considered agriculture. He sees no comparison between the two and suggested that the framework of questions should cover the entire range of variations statewide.

Mr. Loving stated that, when evaluating the issue of loss of forestland, the committee should take into consideration that a farmer may own forestland as well as farm land -- the two are inter-related. Mr. Showalter stressed the need to provide for regional differences when developing the survey.

Chairman Turner suggested looking at similar programs in other states and how they address diverse landscapes. He also suggested that a subcommittee be appointed to work with Mr. Foreman and other Department staff to develop a survey within a specific timeline, and decide what steps are needed in each one of these categories to accomplish the purpose of this study. He asked for volunteers for the subcommittee. Easton Loving and Anitra Webster volunteered to be on the subcommittee.

Mr. McGlothlin offered suggestions to balance development and conserving forestland; for example, by building up rather than out. Ms. Webster suggested that the committee be broadened to include county planners. Chairman Turner suggested that the committee include county planners and city managers in their survey.

Ms. Noritake offered to contact the National Planning Association to see if they have any information on conservation of forestland and economic benefits.

Mr. McGlothlin suggested that contact be made with Deans of law schools to encourage research projects and work on laws nationwide.

Chairman Turner will contact Board member McChesney Goodall and ask him to be on the committee also. Chairman Turner asked the Board to e-mail their comments or questions to him, Mr. Garrison and Mr. Foreman that they want incorporated in the surveys. This will all be coordinated with Dr. Mortimer's research.

Ms. Webster noted that the word “hardwood”had been dropped from SJR75 Recommendation #6 on page 2 of Mr. Foreman’s handout.

Chairman Turner will work with Mr. Garrison and Mr. Foreman to develop an action plan and timeline for this project.

Committee Liaison Report

None. Chairman Turner reminded the Board of the upcoming VFA and Forest Council meetings.

Other Business

Chairman Turner stated that he spoke with Ms. Ann Duff, Chairperson of the RT Board, regarding their fees and the way the law is written. They are looking at ways to improve the collection process and simplify the law.

Scheduling of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Board of Forestry will be June 21, 2005, at the Department of Forestry Central Office in Charlottesville.

The tentative schedule for future meetings is September 27, 2005, which will be a joint meeting with the RT Board and will be held either at Cumberland State Forest or New Kent Training Center; December 7, 2005 (location to be announced). There was discussion of Clinch Mountain as a possible meeting location in the future.

Adjournment

There being no further business, Chairman Turner made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. The meeting was officially adjourned at 4:11 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Brenda Taylor
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 Kenney, 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. 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
Mr. Andrew Smith, Virginia Farm Bureau

NOTE: Tapes of Board meetings are on file in the Office of the State Forester

Last modified: Friday, 07-Mar-2008 19:13:25 UTC