(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:

DEATH TAX UPDATE - There is still time for your voice to be heard
Press TAKE ACTION NOW!

Please call your member of Congress!

Take Action!

If you did not call your member of Congress yesterday, there is still time! The Estate Tax vote has been postponed until today (12/03/09). Please call and make sure your voice is heard.

Under current law, the Federal Estate Tax is scheduled to reach 0% in 2010. However, the U.S. House Leadership is in favor of changing this law and continuing the Estate Tax on a permanent basis at the current rate of 45% with an exemption of $3.5 million.

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 4154, which would prevent the Estate Tax from reaching 0% next year.

Please call your member of the U.S. House of Representatives TODAY and ask that they vote NO on H.R. 4154, the so called "Estate Tax Relief Act." Tell your representative to maintain current Estate Tax law through 2010!

Forward this message on to all your friends, family and coworkers!

(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!
For a different perspective, read the remarks of Alabama Forestry Association Executive Vice President Chris Isaacson and a review of several of the proposed regulations by AFA Attorney, James H. McLemore, Capell & Howard, P.C. Update posted 10/29/09: PUBLIC HEARING TIME EXPANDED -- NOW FROM 10 AM TO 4 PM - with one hour lunch break - ON 11/3/09. See Calendar of Events.

(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.

Subject: Unionized Loggers

From: Simpson, Bob [bsimpson@forestfoundation.org]
Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 5:14 PM
To: AFOA

Dear AFOA

The American Tree Farm System (ATFS) supports fair labor practices, but neither ATFS nor its parent organization American Forest Foundation, does take or has taken a position on union organizing or state legislation relating to union organizing. Our mission is to support sustainable forestry by family forest owners across the U.S. In pursuit of this mission, the American Tree Farm System (ATFS) has achieved international recognition of and approval of the ATFS as a credible, sustainable forest certification system. This recognition through the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) can bring huge benefits to family forest owners, through added value for their forest products and increased access to new markets. As part of the approval process for PEFC endorsement, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) Board of Directors agreed over a year ago that the ATFS will work to provide education and information about fair labor practices to the Tree Farm network.

Sincerely,

Bob Simpson

Senior Vice President, Center for Family Forests
American Forest Foundation

(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
"Three new wood pellet plants in the U.S. South will more than double North American pellet production capacity. Dixie Pellets, L.L.C., and Green Circle Bio Energy, Inc., are slated to begin production at plants located in Selma, Ala. and Cottondale, Fla., respectively, during the first half of 2008. At full capacity, Dixie Pellets will produce 500,000 tons of wood pellets annually, and Green Circle Bio will produce 550,000 tons. Plans for a third plant, located in Jackson Alabama and operated by DG Pellets I, LLC, are well under way. Upon completion, the DG Pellets facility will add another 600,000 tons of capacity to the North American wood pellet supply.
"According to the Pellet Fuels Institute, approximately 80 pellet plants in North America produce 1.1 million tons per year. Much of the additional 1.65 million tons of wood pellets from the three new plants will be shipped to Europe. European demand for wood pellets has soared since the 1997 ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by many nations, including the European Union as a single body. The United States has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but, as political and public demand for green energy solutions amplify, wood pellets for energy and heat will likely enter a new renaissance." Source: Forest2Market e-newsletter March 2008

(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.
"A reader of this column, Richard A. Fazzone of Potomac, Md., recently got these matters as well focused as I could, so with the presidential trenches waiting, he gets the final speech:
" 'There is no Great Depression, no WWII, no Cold War, no racism as it was in the 20th Century or before -- no really big problem or solution. Unless something changes, voters want practically nothing from government, or more precisely, relatively few want the same thing, and without political consensus, a democracy does little or nothing new. In one respect, Mr. Henninger is correct to observe that 'in American politics, ambiguity is all you get,' but that may say enough. As another new year begins, we might consider ourselves fortunate for ambiguity, rather than the opposite and what would accompany it.' " Source: The Pre-Election Paradox by Daniel Henniger in The Wall Street Journal, 1/3/08. Write to henninger@wsj.com.

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