Reforestation of Timberlands Board Meeting Minutes -
DOF Office, Sandston, VA
September 25, 2002

Chairman Gary Youngblood called the meeting to order at 9:35 am. Members present were Charles H. Rose, Jr., Norman Long, Russell Holland, John E. Heilman, Thomas Jefferson III, and Edward H. Zimmer. Department of Forestry personnel in attendance were: James Garner, Bill Saunders, and Phil Grimm.

In election of officers for the next 12 months, Mr. Jefferson nominated Mr. Youngblood for Chairman and Mr. Long for Vice Chairman. The board unanimously approved the nominations.

In a review of the March 27, 2002 board meeting minutes, discussion arose on an item carried forward regarding landowner sign up procedures upon depletion of RT Funds for the year. Mr. Saunders reported that his region has logged 32 landowner requests for assistance estimated at $39,000 following RT fund depletion for this year. Currently, 180 landowners are signed up for cost share in his region. Mr. Saunders added that his analysis of state-wide-signs-ups indicate 67 applications were capped at 100 acres, this being the maximum acreage available to a landowner in a single year.

Mr. Holland inquired of the 32 landowners logged, how many can be delayed and carried out in the following year. Mr. Saunders replied that in his opinion, most can be carried over; about one-third of these are release projects and the remaining are planting projects. Mr. Saunders stated that most release projects could be carried over for 1-2 years.

In further discussion of the minutes involving comparison of RT fund allocations to the regions with the forest products tax collected in each region, Mr. Holland inquired as to the level of harvesting; i.e., is the level of harvesting increasing or decreasing. Mr. Saunders responded that in his region, harvesting overall appears to be trending downward.

As there was no further discussion, minutes of the March 2002 meeting were approved as submitted.

Annual Report 2001-2002

In a discussion of the activities completed in the fiscal year 2001-2002, Mr. Grimm pointed out the continuing downturn in special funds, which began in 1997-1998 fiscal year. He stated that the general fund appropriation had decreased as planned by $250,000 for the year to meet state budget reduction requirements.

He pointed out that audits of RT projects for water quality protection have shown that 99% of the projects audited show efforts made to apply best management practices; but that 14% of the projects audited show water quality problems exist due to BMP technical specifications not being met.

During the fiscal year 865 acres of lands subject to the Virginia Seed Tree Law were granted RT cost sharing for tree planting and herbicide release, as well as pre commercial thinning.

A total of 44.5 million pine seedlings and 2.2 million hardwood seedlings produced by the Department of Forestry and forestry industry nurseries were planted in Virginia. A total of 73,000 acres (rounded to the nearest 1,000) were planted in pine, and 7400 acres were planted in hardwoods on all ownerships in 2002. Of the pine acreage, 60,000 acres was non-industrial private land and 13,000 acres was forest industry planting. The RT program cost shared planting on 21,000 acres. At total of 29,000 acres of non-industrial private land was planted without cost sharing of any kind. A total of 9,000 acres was cost shared for planting through the federal Forestry Incentives Program.

In 2001 herbicide applications were completed on a total of 37,000 acres of non-industrial private land for site preparation, hardwood brush control and herbaceous weed control in pine plantations. The RT program cost shared 23,000 acres of this work.

In comparing acres sprayed with acres planted, Mr. Holland expressed concern that perhaps insufficient acres of pine plantation were being properly cared for in terms of release from hardwood competition. He asked what we can do to insure that release is carried out. Mr. Grimm responded that based on discussion in RT board meetings in the past 2 years, the decision was made to begin requiring landowners to agree at sign up to release the tract from hardwood competition should the Department of Forestry find fewer than 250 planted pine seedlings are free to grow per acre on an RT project. Mr. Grimm stated that the 2002 planting season was the first year in which this policy has been put into practice. Mr. Jefferson inquired how the department carries out this determination of free-to-grow. Mr. Saunders responded the department carries out its field re-inspections of planting projects in the fall and winter following the previous spring’s planting to determine the survival and free-to-grow status of planted pine trees. He added that his region has scheduled a training day in November in Middlesex County for the regional foresters and technicians, focusing on determination of free-to-grow status of newly planted pine seedlings. He invited the board members to attend.

In a review of practice accomplishments for 2001-2002, Mr. Grimm stated that 650 projects were completed involving 21,217 acres of tree planting; 503 projects were completed involving 20,488 acres of herbicide release; and 30 projects completed involving 2,188 acres of pre-commercial thinning. He also stated that 97% of the incentives budget was expended to cost- share these projects.

The average project size was 36 acres; landowners expended a total of $4 million dollars in completing projects signed up for cost-share; the average overall cost per acre for work completed was $93.00 which is continuing to trend upward over the last several years; and the average overall cost share per acre was $34.91.

2002-2003 Budget

In a discussion of the budget, Mr. Grimm pointed out that the forest products tax was forecast prior to the beginning of the fiscal year at $1,272,000. Receipts are now anticipated to fall short of this amount. He stated the forest products tax revenue for 2001-2002 fiscal year was $1,156,000, or $116,000 less than the projected tax revenue for fiscal year 2002-2003. As result of a projected continuing down turn in tax revenue it is anticipated that the tax revenue may come in at $150,000 less than currently projected for this year. He stated the department plans to replace any budget deficit with federal cost-share dollars expected to be available after January 1, 2003. This will be the Forestland Enhancement Program (FLEP), part of the federal Farm Bill passed by the 2002 Congress. Mr. Holland requested a review of the use of FLEP funds for this purpose at the board’s March 2003 meeting. Mr. Grimm agreed to provide data at that time.

Federal cost share programs

In further discussion of federal cost share programs to be implemented in 2003, Mr. Holland inquired as to the acreage minimum for sign up under the FLEP program. He stated his concern that no minimum acreage per sign up could overwhelm the department’s capability for administering potentially large numbers of projects. (Following the meeting it was determined that the Virginia FLEP plan, currently in draft stage, accepts a one acre minimum,and states a maximum per landowner per year of $10,000 or 100 acres, whichever is lesser.)

Mr. Grimm stated that the FLEP program would be run in a fashion similar to the RT program in terms of sign-up and administration, including cost-sharing of pine practices at 35% and $60.00 cap per acre, same as the RT program.

Mr. Grimm reviewed a second federal cost share program to be implemented in 2003, The Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP). This program concentrates on conservation of soil and water resources and wildlife habitat, while also recognizing the need for productivity. This program is intended primarily to improve agriculture operations. However, non-industrial private forestland owners are also targeted for assistance. Accordingly, in public meetings held throughout Virginia in 2002 by the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Department of Forestry personnel advocated forestry as a necessary component of this program. As a result it appears likely that forestry will be allotted 10% of the EQIP budget anticipated for Virginia in 2003, and for the next 5 years of the program’s life. Projects approved under this program will be graded so as to give soil and water conservation highest priority at signup.

Mr. Garner’s comments regarding the Forest resource

Mr. Garner began by stating that he was asked to participate in the national FLEP rule development as a result of Virginia’s long history of cost share experience in the Reforestation Timberlands Program. He delegated Forest Management Chief James Starr to carry out this task. He stated that the continued downturn in forest products tax receipts provides a challenge that we hope to meet with the new FLEP and EQIP programs.

He stated that several years ago Virginia assumed responsibility from the U. S. Forest Service to survey the Commonwealth’s forests for acreage, quality and health through the Forest Inventory Analysis program. Four months ago, the department completed the 7th survey of Virginia’s forests and has begun the 8th survey. He stated the U. S. Forest Service is responsible for analyzing the field data and publishing the results. However, lack of funding has delayed the completion of USFS tasks. Mr. Garner stated that his best guess based on the work completed is that the hardwood resource is adding volume, but that the quality of the hardwood resource may be declining due to insufficient forest management activity. He stated the pine resource appears to be close to a balance in terms of growth and drain.

He stated his long-term vision for the RT board will be how to improve the Commonwealth’s forest resource.

He stated the EQIP program will provide an opportunity to improve hardwood management, and that the Department of Forestry must address the management of this resource to a greater extent than in the past.

Discussion of budget related items

Mr. Garner stated that the department has, as required, submitted plans for cutting the department’s budget by 7%, 11% and 15% in addition to the $2.5 million reductions of the last two years. He stated that currently 16 counties in Virginia are without foresters. He stated that plans to hire 10 technicians and 6 foresters have been put on indefinite hold. The Department has 529 applications on file for these positions.

He stated the General Fund match in the RT program must be part of the cuts to take place. He stated that further erosion of the General Fund match is on hold for this year, but will be on the table for the second year of the biennium. He added that all agencies have been affected including institutions of higher education.

He stated marketing and servicing the three cost share programs, that is RT, FLEP and EQIP, will need to be prioritized. He stated that emergency response remains the department’s highest priority. Because the agency is maturing, he said one-third of its current personnel will be eligible for full retirement within 5 years.

He encouraged the RT board to meet the challenge of trying to plan for eventual recovery when the economy turns up again.

Mr. Holland inquired as to how the board members can assist in this process. He suggested with proper background information from the department, board members could possibly involve boards of supervisors in advocating improved management and protection of the forest resource. Mr. Garner responded that he has heard nothing from any of the county governments where DOF is no longer represented.

Mr. Jefferson inquired as whether the department could provide background data as to the needs within individual counties for forestry resource protection and management. Mr. Garner stated that fire response is the top priority. Mr. Holland added his support to Mr. Jefferson’s request in terms of supplying information at political meetings. Mr. Garner responded affirmatively and agreed to speak with Mr. Saunders on this subject.

Mr. Saunders added that over time, the Department of Forestry has had less time to sell forestry to landowners due to the decrease in personnel and addition of other responsibilities. He stated it is now hard to keep up with those landowners who want to carry out projects to say nothing of trying to sell forestry services to other landowners.

Mr. Rose agreed with Mr. Saunders. He stated that as a landowner, he has seen less DOF involvement with landowners in his local area. He surmises that this is due to fewer employees available to assist landowners. Mr. Garner injected that DOF has not replaced the Suffolk forester position which is in the area of Mr. Rose’s property. Mr. Rose added that the importance of the Chesapeake Bay Program has not resulted in additional personnel needed to carry out program objectives.

Mr. Heilman in response to Mr. Jefferson’s and Mr. Holland’s comments regarding background data, stated that he has made presentations to groups in his local area on the importance of non-industrial private forest management. He encouraged board members to consider presentations to groups such as Rotary.

Mr. Holland expressed his concern for potential consequences of “unfunded mandates”. He cited the example of the requirement to enforce the water quality law on all of the logging activity in the state. Mr. Rose suggested DOF document its capacity for logging inspection activity, and compare this to the commitment of personnel needed for full enforcement activity. He stated this would be a good argument for addressing the need for additional personnel. He offered this comment in response to Mr. Garner’s comment that the department has seen no major hiring in over four years.

In concluding the meeting, Mr. Grimm stated that beginning with this meeting Board minutes will be placed on the internet for public consumption as required by law, and that they will be located on the department’s home page. The next meeting was tentatively scheduled for March 19, 2003 in Sandston, Virginia Department of Forestry office.

There being no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 11:55 am.

James W. Garner, State Forester

Last modified: Friday, 07-Mar-2008 19:13:46 UTC