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News, Issues & InformationOther Daily Forestry News Sources at: (05/04/12) Based on the theory that any publicity is good publicity, we suppose you will like several articles that hit the news in the past two months. They are, Staving off an Alabama forestland crisis, The Birmingham News, 4/29/12, Alabama timber industry facing tough times, Southeast Farm Press, 3/8/12, and Alabama's timber industry at risk, Birmingham Business Journal, 5/4/12. A common thread in the articles seems to be that forest landowners have gray hair (when was that not true?), and, if timber prices stay low, forest landowners might sell their land to a developer and reap huge profits (the only business worse off than the timber business right now is the housing development business). Give me a break. (03/08/12) Forest Landowners Association Call to Action: Contact your Representatives in the U.S. Congress and urge their support of H.R. 1259, the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act. (03/05/12) Fear of global warming/climate change are behind most forest certification schemes, ethanol subsidies, cellulosic ethanol mandates and many other actions that affect national and international forest policy. We thought you might enjoy the conversation in this video. (12/16/11) Wood is Good! (12/02/11) Federal gasoline & diesel taxes are systematically diverted from productive construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. Timber trapped behind unusable roads and bridges is devalued. Will this be a problem for your land? Or is it already? According to co-author Pam Villarreal, an amendment to Alabama's state constitution will not allow state-level fuel taxes to be used for bike trails, roadside wildflowers, light rail projects, etc. That's a plus. (08/16/11) Alabama Forest Recovery Task Force Landowner Program. For those landowners who are considering replanting after tornado damaged areas have been cleaned up, it might be good to watch Dr. Ken McNabb's presentation. (08/03/11) In Oregon, high tech tool used for wildfire detection. Source: www.ktmr.com, (07/29/11) "25,000 Visitors a Year" -- Flow trails might be good way to bring mountain biking income to some north Alabama landowners. Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 27, 2011 (06/30/11) Alabama Forest Recovery Task Force Public Landowner Meetings -- Agenda and Dates & Locations beginning July 18 in Tuscaloosa. The Alabama Forest Recovery Task Force has a website at http://alabamaforestrecovery.com. (06/13/11) "Zero out capital gains. Zero out the alternative minimum tax. Zero out the death tax." Source: Rep. Michele Bachmann as quoted in The Wall Street Journal, 6/11/11. (06/08/11) No Burn Order Declared by Governor Bentley. Source: Alabama Forestry Commission, 6/7/11 (06/07/11) Claiming a Timber Casualty Loss by Deborah A. Gaddis, Ph.D., Capital Ideas, June 2011, page 4. (06/06/11) A treat for your imagination: Climbing Robot Feels Its Way Up A Tree. Source: New Scientist TV, 5/26/11. (05/18/11) Aerial Imagery of Tornado Damaged Forestland -- links to maps, photos, & hints on how to use -- NOAA Cartographer Jon Sellars on Capital Ideas - Live! (05/03/11 Can I Deduct Timber Losses? -- a power point presentation by Dr. John L. Greene, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station. (05/03/11) When a Tornado Strikes: Steps to Claim a Timber Casualty Loss by David Mercker, Extension Forester, Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, University of Tennessee. Dr. Mercker was a guest on AFOA's May 2008 issue of Capital Ideas - Live! when he discussed "claiming a timber casualty loss." To listen to his comments and read the information that supported his interview, Click Here. (05/03/11) Dealing with Storm Damaged Timber -- see related links. (04/12/11) "Remember, none of these Forever Wild properties pay taxes. Therefore, every acre placed under their control is removed from the tax rolls. This means that the remaining property owners must pay higher taxes to make up the short fall or local services and needed government functions such as police and fire protection must be curtailed." Source: Talking Point #5, [Lawmaker] Call List & Forever Wild Talking Points, Alliance for Citizen Rights & Take Back Alabama, 4/12/11. Source posted from http://www.keepourrights.org/ken_forever_wild_talking_points_april_12_2011_pdf.pdf (04/01/11) Federal Government Proposes 8,166 Acre Expansion of Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi and Mobile County, Alabama. Federal, State, & Local Agencies will meet on April 14 at 5 Rivers -- Alabama's Delta Resource Center. We suggest you send your comments to Alabama State Forester Linda Casey (Linda.Casey@forestry.alabama.gov) so that she may include them with the Alabama Forestry Commission's response to the proposed expansion. Please read: Department of the Interior letter to Alabama State Forester; Map of proposed expansion area; 205 Page Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment. (03/24/11) Jefferson County Federation of Teachers spokesperson advocates higher forestland taxes for Alabama landowners. A member of the Alabama Forest Owners' Association brought this video to AFOA's attention. We thought the rest of our members and other Alabama forest landowners would be interested/alarmed in watching it. Please alert AFOA to news stories that may be of interest to forestland owners. This video has been edited in length from the original. If you would like to let WBRC-FOX6 know your opinion about this video please direct your comments to: Lou Kirchen, General Manager, WBRC-FOX6
(02/28/11) Markets for Wisconsin Paper Products Threatened by Governor's Efforts to Repeal Collective Bargaining Rights. Forest Stewardship Council certification of Wisconsin forestland requires "adherence with internationally-recognized labor standards, including the rights of workers to collectively bargain." Source: Ashland Current, 2/22/11 (02/2/11) $320 million down the drain in Georgia; commercial cellulosic ethanol plant closes. Source: Georgia Public Broadcasting, 1/12/11. We wonder how long it will take the newly announced Greene County, Alabama cellulosic ethanol plant to run through $250 million and announce its closure? Source: Birmingham Business Journal, 1/20/11. (01/17/11) Shelby Moms Against Raising Taxes (SMART) has created a website to provide a perspective to a 30 mill county property tax different from that of the Board of Education's. The tax will be on the ballot on February 8. See AFOA's Calendar of Events. Update (1/18/11) "Group urges citizens to say no to property tax renewal" Source: Shelby County Reporter. (01/10/11) Updated Version of Tax Tips for Forest Landowners for the 2010 Tax Year (to be in agreement with changes from the newly enacted tax law on December 17, 2010 -- Public Law 111-312). (01/06/11) "Industrial giant Georgia-Pacific has climbed in bed with radical extremist groups." Source: Western Institute for Study of the Environment. (01/03/11) Forest2Market Economic Outlook reports, "Those who are predicting a 2013 or 2014 recovery for housing appear to be on the right track." If housing improves, can stumpage prices be far behind? (12/28/10) For Landowner Early Adopters: The Swinglet CAM -- a remote controlled plane with 12 megapixel camera with the ability to fly to pre-programmed location and gather images over pre-programmed course. There ought to be business potential here as SenseFly has no U.S. dealers. Be sure to watch the video. (12/23/10) The same group (Institute for Justice) that has been fighting misuse of government's power of eminent domain has helped a group in Colorado. Watch their brief and funny video. Their problem may have some interest to landowners fighting the home-rule campaigns in various Alabama counties. (12/17/10) Bambi Hunting -- A Potential New Form of Land Use. (12/13/10) Louisiana Office of Forestry Laying Off Foresters and Fire Fighters. Source: thenewsstar.com, 12/4/10 (11/29/10) More land is made every day; but where will the buyers come from? -- an essay by Jonathan Goode on www.landthink.com, 11/23/10 (11/23/10) Make Good On Tea Party Rhetoric By Selling Federal Lands. Source: Forbes.com, 11/18/10 (11/18/10) Lame-Duck Caution from H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis. Click here for a text version of his comments. Dr. Burnett was keynote speaker at AFOA's 2010 Annual Meeting in Atmore. (11/9/10) "...University of Georgia Cooperative Extension has lost 23 percent of its state funding," and has "...eliminated...88 county Extension agents and 26 specialists and administrator positions." Source: SoutheastFarmPress.com, 10/22/10 (10/28/10) Federal Agency Calls Time-out in Its Game to Increase Federal Lands in Alabama. "I wholeheartedly oppose the expansion and think this proposal should be dropped altogether." "I hope the six-month re-evaluation will show Fish and Wildlife Service the error of their ways and they will completely abandon this proposal." Senator Richard Shelby as quoted in The Birmingham News, 10/26/10. Perhaps USF&WS believes landowners will lose interest in 6 months and their plan to expand federal control of land in central Alabama will move forward without incident. ?? (10/20/10) Alabama Under No Burn Order. "Burning anywhere in the state while a no-burn order is in effect without first obtaining a burn permit from the Forestry Commission can bring up to a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail." Source: Shelby County Reporter, 10/19/10. (11/5/10) "Fire Alert Lifted for all 67 Alabama Counties" Source: Alabama Forestry Commission press release (10/01/10) “I unequivocally oppose this attempt at a giant federal land grab by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS),” said Shelby. “If FWS continues to push this egregious and unjustified expansion, I will do all in my power to ensure its failure. We are already making great efforts to protect the Cahaba River watershed, as we should be, but this proposal is simply a bridge too far lacking any legitimate justification whatsoever. Pure and simple, this is an overreach by the federal government that I will fight.” Source: Richard Shelby, United States Senator of Alabama website Newsroom. About 200 landowners applauded Shelby's statement when it was read at the organizational meeting of the Cahaba Landowners Association in Brent, Alabama on Thursday, September 30. We wonder if Senator Jeff Sessions and Representative Spencer Bachus have plans to make similar unambiguous statements? (09/18/10) Comments on Federal Land Acquisition in Central Alabama -- Sept. 2, 2010, Brent, Alabama . . .. (08/06/10) Federal Government Proposes Huge Expansion of Land Ownership and Control in Central Alabama. Draft environmental assessment contains details. Based on a quick calculation using the NAFO/F2M report, Economic Impact of Privately-Owned Forests, the 106,415 acre land acquisition will cost Alabama 702 jobs, $22.8 million in annual payroll contributions, $778,958 in state tax contributions each year, $67 million in annual sales, and $26 million in Gross Domestic Product every year. What the cost will be for the reduced productivity caused by the conservation easement lockup of an additional 173,380 acres is not known, but will likely be a considerable amount. The public comment period has been extended from August 6 to September 7. Plan to attend Public Meeting on September 2 in Bibb County. (07/02/10) Six Months to Go Until the Largest Tax Hikes in History. Source: National Center for Policy Analysis Daily Policy Digest, 7/2/10 (06/18/10) Conservation Easements: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Source: www.nationalcenter.org (06/09/10) Alabama Forestry Commission continues its efforts to stop timber theft with arrest of Etowah County man. Source: AFC Press Release 6/9/10 (04/27/10) Did you or someone you know miss the 2010 AFOA Annual Meeting or would you like to see or hear one of the topics again? Find out what you missed at this year's Annual Meeting by visiting the 2010 Annual Meeting page. Video, Powerpoint Slides, and speaker bios will be available for much of the meeting as we process and publish them to the website. Let us know if having this available was helpful and informative or... (03/21/10) Will Your Forestland Soon Begin Paying Medicare Taxes? That's a possibility under the proposed healthcare reform bill, according the the National Center for Policy Analysis. (03/15/10) $1,000 per Landowner Available to Trap Feral Hogs in the following counties: Baldwin, Covington, Coffee, Crenshaw, Dale, Geneva, Lowndes, Macon, Mobile, and Wilcox. Deadline to apply for 2010 funding: 3/24/10. Source: NRCS Press Release 3/15/10. (01/04/10) Pulpwood prices are up, according to Forest2Mill News, January 2010. (12/13/09) Is your forestland a neglected aspect of your portfolio? Source: FinancialAdvisorMagazine.com, 10/09. (12/03/09) Death Tax Vote Today! Alert from Forest Landowners' Association:
(11/24/09) Rule of Thumb for Buying Timberland: "If the amount of merchantable timber on a property represents at least 50 percent of the purchase price, you’re likely to make money either short-term or long-term." Source: Timberland investing: Different ways to make a future buck by Curtis Seltzer, 11/17/09. (10/26/09)
The Alabama Forestry Commission has proposed several regulations that
will be of interest to forest landowners.
Craig Hill, Chief of the AFC
Law Enforcement Section, discussed the regulations on AFOA's October 22 issue
of Capital Ideas - Live! (10/8/09) If there is to be a movement to restore economic values, it will have to cut across the current taxonomies. Its goal will be to make the U.S. again a producer economy, not a consumer economy. It will champion a return to financial self-restraint, large and small. Source: The Next Culture War by David Brooks, The New York Times, 9/28/09. (9/5/09) Dixie Pellets in Selma closes doors. "The company, which manufactures wood pellets for heating, told about 70 workers Tuesday [September 1] they should not return to work." Source: Selma Times-Journal, 9/3/09 (7/29/09) Graph of Alabama Average Stumpage Prices. Source: Timber Mart-South. (7/7/09) "No power plant would consider using pellets for one minute if they didn't have to do it." Source: The Wall Street Journal, 7/7/09. (7/1/09) "Federal jury rules Baldwin biofuel entrepreneur must pay $10.4 million." Source: Mobile Press-Register, 6/30/09. Cello Energy leader Jack Boykin described his method for converting wood chips to biodiesel at AFOA Annual Meeting, April 23, 2009. (6/17/09) The American Land Rights Association asks owners of forestland to call U.S. Senators to stop the June 18 mark-up of S 787 ("Clean Water Restoration Act"). Read June 15, 2009 Action Alert from ALRA. Editor's Note (6/19/09): "Thursday, June 18, 2009 the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed S 787 as the Baucus- Klobuchar Substitute by a strictly party line vote of 12 Democrats to 7 Republicans." Source: American Land Rights Association, 6/19/09 (6/14/09) A humorous, but helpful primer on "cap and trade." (4/27/09) AFOA 2009 Annual Meeting Forest Taxation Workshop Slides by Dr. John Greene and Dr. Linda Wang available online. 100 pages, pdf file. Other publications given to participants of the workshop were Forest Landowners Guide to the Federal Income Tax (Ag Handbook 718) and Estate Planning for Forest Landowners: What Will Become of Your Timberland? (General Technical Report SRS-112). (4/19/09) The Alabama House of Representatives recently passed a Resolution (HJR471) "Urging Congress to Correct the Definition of Renewable Biomass and to Prevent Certain Federal Actions Regarding Practices on Private Forestland." State Forester Linda Casey explains why the definition needs to be changed and urges landowners to contact their Alabama state senators and urge support of the resolution. (4/6/09)
Email Response From American Forest Foundation Answers AFOA Question of
4/2/09 on Unions, Tree Farm & PEFC. (4/2/09) Will American Tree Farm System's PEFC [certified sustainably managed] endorsement require the adoption of ILO core labor standards and force unionization of U.S. loggers? Will union loggers improve forest management? Please read the Labor Endorsement Letter and MOU Final on Letterhead and let us know what you think. Send note to AFOA. Source: www.pefc.org (go to bottom & click on ATFS Scheme documentation) (3/24/09) "Georgia Power destroys jobs by burning wood chips." Source: macon.com 3/24/09 Editor's Note: We suspect the writer at macon.com has it right. Federal and state subsidies may, in the short run, prop up biomass energy users. Prices for low quality wood (pulpwood) will be pushed to artificial highs; to compete for raw materials, paper mills will skimp on mill maintenance and equipment upgrades and some mills will finally move from the U.S. to friendlier countries. At some point U.S. politicians will lose interest in subsidizing biomass fuels and the powerplants like Georgia Power Company and other biomass users will stop buying biomass. The price for low grade wood will fall and there won't be a pulp & paper industry to pick up the pieces. End result: landowners won't have a market for low grade wood and will find it difficult to justify the long wait to produce and harvest quality wood products, such as poles and veneer. Lose. Lose. Lose. (3/13/09) Capitol Action Alert Weekly Legislative Wrap Up from the Alabama Agribusiness Council, Montgomery. Please see HB202 & HB243. (2/2/09) Let's see now... During inflationary times it's good to own physical things like gold and land and timber. Glenn Beck shows us the amount of cash being pumped into our economic system. If you don't have time for Beck, look at this graph. (1/28/09) Etowah County property tax increase to be requested. From The Gadsden Times, 1/27/09: The Rev. Preston Nix, chairman of the Attalla City Board of Education, asked about the possibility of ad valorem tax increases by the Legislature. Nix said an increase in property taxes is needed and that property taxes are a stable revenue source. He said the gains that have been made in education will be lost if teachers are laid off. [State Rep. Jack Page, D-Gadsden] said a property tax increase would require a referendum. He pointed out it would be a year before a property tax could start being collected. Nix said after the meeting that he would propose the Attalla board ask the legislative delegation to pass legislation calling for a referendum on a countywide ad valorem tax increase. He said he thought the board would support the request. Nix added that efforts are needed for statewide ad valorem tax increases. If passed this year, [County Chief Executive Officer Patrick] Simms said after the meeting, new ad valorem taxes would not start being collected until October 2010. Etowah County Commissioner Larry Payne said people he talks to are not in favor of additional taxes. Sen. Larry Means, D-Attalla, said he would be willing to look at passing legislation allowing a referendum on ad valorem taxes. (1/24/09) Australian geologist Ian Plimer argues that environmentalism is a religion. (1/24/09) "Today's post will focus on estimates of timber volumes and values, how we get them, and how we forecast them for future year's cash flows." Source: The Timberland Blog, 1/20/09 (1/6/09) 18 Plants & 99 Animals are officially listed as endangered in Alabama. US Fish & Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program web page: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/wildlife.html (1/2/09) Asking price: To set or not to set may provide food for thought if you are considering selling land this year. Other essays on the LandThink web page may also be interesting. (11/25/08) General Forestry Course offered by the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service. Both online and traditional paper versions are available. Registration opens January 2 for the spring semester. (10/29/08) Land trusts must pass muster under new easement process. "Nonprofit land trusts [in Colorado] charged with overseeing thousands of acres of scenic lands will have to be state certified next year in order to continue accepting lands, under a new review process." Before the conservation easement business gets further out of hand, we suspect Alabama and other states will develop easement oversight commissions as is being done in Colorado. Source: Rocky Mountain News 10/28/08. (10/17/08) Where do the presidential candidates stand on issues of interest to small business. Scroll down to the section on taxes and look at the estate tax and capital gains tax boxes. There is a difference that affects owners of forestland. Source: National Federation of Independent Business. (08/23/08) Wildland Fire Courses Now Available Online. The S-190 course if frequently a required prerequisite to certified burn manager courses. (08/12/08) BigDog -- pack mule or ATV of the future? (07/01/08) Burn Wood In Fireplace? Attend "Wood Smoke Awareness Course." Southern California Air Quality Management Board Rule 445. Wood Burning Devices. (06/27/08) Schools & Roads Subsidy From Federal Forestland Voted Down by U.S. House. Back when National Forests grew and harvested timber, a portion of the sale income ("hundreds of millions of dollars") was given to local counties in lieu of property taxes (which the federal government does not pay). We suspect this decision by the House will impact counties in Alabama such as Winston, Lawrence, Talladega, Bibb and others (39 states with 700 counties affected). The federal government's policy of not selling timber results in pressure on private landowners to pay higher property taxes. Also, see: Property Tax Lawsuit Threatens Alabama's Forest Industry. (04/01/08) Forest Finance: Keeping Records of Forest Management Activities. A Penn State publication that will be useful to many forest owners. (03/26/08)
"Pellet Fuel: A Renaissance of Heat and Energy Solutions (03/08/08) AX MEN is a new series on the History Channel that will begin Sunday, March 9 at 8 PM. According to the Southern Forest Products Association Weekly Newsletter, "The History Channel bills the show as the first-ever non-fiction series about the treacherous life of timber-cutters in the Pacific Northwest. The series is expected to educate viewers about the logging profession and does not appear to bash forestry or logging from an environmental standpoint." (02/27/08) Post Your Photos on Google Earth -- Great Tutorial. You might want to post photos of each of your property corners (perhaps from several angles or with you holding a sheet of paper with the corner name or description on it). Or you might want to post pictures of the arrow heads you've found at the exact spot on the earth where you found them. The process is called geotagging. (02/18/08) "Era of Mediated Nature" Upon Us? Listen to this NPR interview and ponder if (a) nature-based recreation may decline; (b) forestland prices driven higher by hunters and outdoor recreationalists might decline; (c) regulatory climate surrounding land management activities may cool. Also listen to Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, and consider his concerns about youth and the outdoor world. The Conservation Departments across the U.S. aren't sponsoring programs like Becoming An Outdoors Woman because of their altruistic love of nature. On the brighter side: Could surveys of public-land based recreation be inversely proportional to private-land based recreation? Are more people buying their own land and avoiding public land and all its rules and congestion? (02/07/08) The Significance of Private Forests in the U.S. has been added to the Forest History Society's Education Curriculum for Middle School Students. On February 22, 2007, Keville Larson led a landowner discussion on improving the middle school segment on Private Forests (see: AFOA Calendar of Events 2007) In a 1/31/08 email message to AFOA, Keville wrote: "The final version of Module 10 on The significance of Private Forests that you hosted a teleconference on and for which we provided feedback to the Forest History Society, is now out. Because of our input this is much more balanced than the version we critiqued. It may not be as strong as we would have written it, but much better than it was." (02/06/08) Message on Climatic Change from Newsweek magazine: "The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality." Meteorologists "are almost unanimous in the view that the [cooling] trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century...the resulting famines could be catastrophic." Source: The Cooling World, Newsweek, 4/28/1975. (01/10/08) Birmingham City Council voted on Tuesday to terminate its support for the Jefferson County Storm Water Management Authority. The Authority taxes rural Jeffco forest owners to pay for clean-up of storm water originating primarily from urban, developed property. Bessemer, Hoover, Graysville, Fultondale and Leeds pulled out of the Authority last year. Source: The Birmingham News, January 9, 2008.
(01/04/08) "The New Year demands an
admission that some good has been achieved, not by the wave of a
politician's magic wand but through many daily hands at work in the nation.
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