June 2012
PGP, forest roads update Max Braswell AFA Executive Vice President
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FA and several of its member companies will host a field tour for staff from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) on Friday, June 15, to demonstrate the precision and effectiveness of forestry herbicide applications in protecting water quality. In addition, the tour will provide an opportunity to discuss a variety of terrestrial herbicide applications with the goal of providing clarity on what types of applications apply toward the threshold values contained in the Arkansas Pesticide General Permit (PGP) and into which category these terrestrial applications fall. AFA and a task group of members have been working with ADEQ for well over a year to develop and implement a permit that protects the environment, while also providing the flexibility we need to carry out our business, using long-established best management practices. Currently, all landowners should operate under the existing Arkansas PGP. However, ADEQ continues to work with the forestry community to consider alternative approaches, including the development of a Permit by Rule (PBR), which would contain all of the requirements of the PGP, but not require the filing of a Notice of Intent. We will continue to keep you posted See ‘Issues,’ on page 3
Beebe appoints Fox as State Forester
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n April 23, Gov. Mike Beebe accepted the Arkansas Forestry Commission’s (AFC) nomination of Joe Fox as the next State Forester. Fox’s first day on the job was May 14. AFA’s staff and members look forward to continuing an excellent partnership with AFC under Fox’s leadership. A past AFA President, Fox had served as director of conservation forestry for the Arkansas field office of The Nature Conservancy. He will replace John Shannon, who resigned in February after a state audit criticized his management and found that the commission had improperly borrowed $6.4 million in federal grants to cover its payroll. Allen Bedell, AFC chairman, said that Fox, who previously served on the commission, was a unanimous choice by the ninemember panel. He said Fox, who was on the commission 18 years ago when Shannon was named
State Forester Joe Fox (center) visits with Arkansas champion tree artist Linda Palmer (left) and Deputy State Forester Larry Nance (right) during the AFA Board of Directors Meeting at Mount Magazine on May 10. director, “is certainly not a stranger to anyone in the industry.” “I think he will fit in nicely and I’m excited about the recommendation,” Bedell said. “I am just elated. He will fit right in. He knows how we function, he knows a lot of the people.”
FAD teaches conservation outdoors
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n May 3, more than 130 fifth-grade students from Rogers, Berryville and Fayetteville, attended a Forest Awareness Day (FAD) at Lake Wedington Recreation area, near Fayetteville. The AFA Education Foundation’s FAD program lets fifth-grade students explore forestry and conservation through handson activities in an outdoor setting. Activities addressed wildlife, fisheries, watershed protection, prescribed fire, archeology, reptiles and amphibians, and habitat. For more information about FAD, contact Director of Forestry Education Rob Beadel at rbeadel@arkforests.org or (501) 374-2441. See more pictures on AFA’s Facebook page at facebook.com/arkforests.
Fifth graders from Northwest Arkansas learn about the benefits of prescribed fire during a Forest Awareness Day (FAD) session at the Lake Wedington Recreation Area on May 3. FAD teaches kids about natural resources in an outdoor setting.
CALENDAR June 13 10 a.m. – AFA Executive Committee AFA Office, Little Rock June 21 6 p.m. – Oil and Gas Leasing Landowner Workshop Conference Center, El Dorado June 26-29 Teacher Conservation Tour Monticello July 11 10 a.m. – Program Committee Embassy Suites, Little Rock July 18 10 a.m. – Tree Farm Committee AFA Office, Little Rock
Oil and gas leasing in Brown Dense focus of June 21 El Dorado event
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few years on the heels of the Fayetteville Shale boom in North Central Arkansas, comes exploration of the Lower Smackover Brown Dense formation— an unconventional oil reservoir found in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana. Oil and gas production companies are currently seeking mineral rights leases in the area. The AFA Education Foundation is sponsoring a landowner workshop on Oil and Gas Leasing in the Brown Dense Formation: What Every Landowner Should Know on Thursday, June 21, at 6 p.m., at the El Dorado Conference Center, 311 South West Ave. There is a $10 registration cost, which covers dinner and handouts. To register, look online at www.arkforests.org/ home-calendar.html to download a form or call the AFA office at (501) 374-2441. An attorney with Perkins Trotter PLLC—
offices in El Dorado and Little Rock—will lead the program. This firm focuses primarily on natural resources law, including oil and gas, water, and environmental law, and related litigation. It has represented landowners in negotiating oil and gas leases in the Fayetteville Shale gas play, and has advised landowners and production companies regarding mineral title issues and lease disputes. TOPICS The Brown Dense Formation: Information and perspective about what’s happening with oil and gas leasing in the geological formation known as the Brown Dense. Oil and Gas Lease Terms, Tips and Pitfalls: A focus on selected lease terms and how they affect the landowner. What’s next? Tips for what landowners can expect after production begins.
August 4 Drew County Log A Load For Kids Monticello September 22 Bradley County Log A Load For Kids Hermitage September 24-28 Prescribed Fire Course for Natural Resource Management Professionals Camp Robinson, N. Little Rock September 25-27 67th AFA Annual Meeting Holiday Inn Airport, Little Rock September 29 River Valley Log A Load For Kids Russellville October 20 Central Arkansas Log A Load For Kids Sheridan
Email updates provide latest news
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very Monday—and other times, as needed—AFA distributes TREEmail, an email newsletter for members and friends of the association. It includes articles of interest to the forestry community, a calendar of events, program and workshop information, job announcements, breaking news and other information. If you are not currently receiving TREEmail and would like to, please send your email address to AFA Communications Director
Anna Swaim at aswaim@arkforests.org or call (501) 374-2441. In addition to TREEmail, you will receive a weekly Legislative Update from AFA Executive Vice President Max Braswell when the State Legislature is in session. Other AFA and forestry-related news is available online via Twitter at twitter.com/ arkforests and Facebook at facebook.com/ arkforests.
Audit teams visit Tree Farms, evaluate program
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rom April 30 to May 3, a team from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the American Tree Farm System visited 36 Arkansas Tree Farms, selected by a random sampling of the database, as part of a required Tree Farm program audit. Through the Tree Farm program, ATFS offers certification to forest landowners who are committed to good forest management. AFA administers this program through its Tree Farm Committee, made up of volunteer Tree Farm Inspectors and woodland owners.
the American Forest Foundation on the initial audit feedback. It appears that there are reports of good management practices, especially for streamside management zones and native species restoration. There are areas for potential nonconformities and opportunities for improvement related to elements missing from management plans and dated management plans.”
Bottom left: (left to right) Auditor Ray Hicks, from the University of West Virginia, visits with David Butler, Enterprise Forest Management, and Carl Carter, Carter Forestry and Wildlife, during a Tree Farm visit. Bottom right: Doddridge Tree Farmer W.A. George shares a picture of his father, who logged with a mule team.
ATFS certifies forest management to eight standards of sustainability. Periodically, each ATFS region is required to undergo an audit by an accredited certification body. During this audit, a team examines on-the-ground conformance to the standards. According to AFA Administrative Director Jennifer Lambert, “The Tree Farm Committee has received a preliminary statement from
Clapp honored by Louisiana Tech
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he Louisiana Tech School of Forestry recently honored AFA Board of Director Member Mary Clapp, with Stevens Forestry in El Dorado, as its Featured Alumnus for 2011-2012. Mary Stevens Clapp is a 1977 graduate of the School of Forestry at Louisiana Tech with a BS in Forestry-Business. She is currently the President of Stevens Forestry Service, Inc. (SFSI), a forestry consulting firm in Arkansas, where she has worked since 1989. She is responsible for supervision of other consulting foresters, their staff and several thousand acres of clients’ timber property across Arkansas and Louisiana. As president, Mary manages SFSI’s offices in Arkansas and Louisiana in addition to managing her family-owned timberland. She has also worked as a Timber Management Forester with Crown Zellerbach Corporation and as a Fourth Forest Coordinator with the Louisiana Forestry Association. Mary is the immediate past president and current executive board member of the Forest Landowners Association (FLA). The Stevens family has been a member of the FLA since 1954. For more than 15 years, Mary has been personally active with FLA and has served in several capacities, including president, executive committee
member, South Central regional vicepresident, Insurance Committee chairman, Finance Committee member, Government Affairs Committee member, silent auction coordinator and Forest Landowner Foundation board of trustees president. Mary also maintains membership and leadership in several other professional organizations: Association of Consulting Foresters of America (ACF), past chairman of the Arkansas Chapter of ACF; licensed registered forester in Arkansas; Certified Forester with and member of the Society of American Foresters; board member of the Arkansas Forestry Association and past chairman of the Landowner and Tree Farm Committees; Louisiana Forestry Association; past president of the Forest Landowners Education Foundation; member of the Forest Landowners Tax Council; past board member of El Dorado Main Street; and past board member of the South Arkansas Arts Center. Mary is married to W. Desmond Clapp. They have two sons; Chris Leach, a graduate of Louisiana Tech and Eric Clapp, who is in his third year of Forestry School at Louisiana Tech. She is the daughter of Irwin E. and Harriet Stevens. Her father started Stevens Forestry Service in 1950.
‘Issues,’ cont. from front... on any further clarification we receive on thresholds and categories, as well as progress toward the PBR. We learned in late May that the Solicitor General (SG) concluded that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals erred in its NEDC v. Brown ruling, but chose not to defend EPA’s 35-year policy on forest roads before the U.S. Supreme Court. The SG stated that “the complex regulatory issues can be addressed more definitively and in a more nuanced fashion by Congress and EPA.” While a permanent legislative fix is the most desired outcome, the SG’s position does not mean that the Supreme Court still can’t take the case. That decision is expected to come this month. Twentysix states, led by Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, filed a brief asking the Court to review the case. Temporary legislation preventing the Ninth Circuit’s ruling from taking effect expires September 30. One reason the SG may have opted out of recommending Supreme Court review is EPA’s recent announcement that it will seek to amend the Clean Water Act through a rulemaking process that includes “non-permitting options.”
New design values for Southern Pine lumber in effect Southern Forest Products Association
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he Southern Pine Inspection Bureau (SPIB) issued new design values effective June 1 in Supplement No.9 to the 2002 Standard Grading Rules for Southern Pine Lumber. The only design values that changed apply to visually graded Southern Pine and Mixed Southern Pine sized 2” to 4” wide and 2” to 4” thick (2x2s through 4x4s) in No.2 and lower grades (No.2, No.3, Stud, Construction, Standard and Utility). This also includes new design values for No.2 Dense and No.2 NonDense Southern Pine. Design values for all other grades and sizes of visually graded Southern Pine remain the same, pending results of testing scheduled for completion later this year. Many producers and key customer groups have already successfully transitioned to the new design values with minimal disruption to their businesses. Now that June 1 is here, Southern Pine users should begin using the new design values and revised span tables for new construction if they haven’t done so already. Building codes reference design values
certified by the ALSC Board of Review. The American Wood Council (AWC) publishes these design values in a supplement to the code-referenced National Design Specification (NDS) for Wood Construction. Building codes also include span tables and other prescriptive requirements that need to be amended to reflect the new design values. Visit www.awc.org to download the AWC Addendum to Design Values for Wood Construction, revised prescriptive span tables and other updates to AWC’s standards and design tools. Also visit www. southernpine.com to obtain easy-to-use span tables for specific grades and sizes of Southern Pine lumber. SPIB and Timber Products Inspection are currently working to complete the full InGrade matrix by destructively testing Select Structural 2x4s, No.2 and Select Structural 2x8s, and No.2 and Select Structural 2x10s in bending, tension and compression. Additional design value changes are expected once all the testing is completed later this year. Moving forward, Southern Pine will continue to be monitored with
annual destructive testing. “Southern Pine remains one of the best construction products on the market today,” said Cathy Kaake, senior director of engineered and framing markets for the Southern Forest Products Association (SFPA). “Southern Pine users have many available product options, including visually graded dimension lumber and an increasing supply of mechanically graded lumber,” added Cathy. SFPA continues to provide answers to common questions, including impacts on real-world applications. One common question is, “Do new design values impact studs?” A short answer: “There is no change for studs based on the International Residential Code.” Southern Pine users can find answers to more than 30 questions and other helpful information by visiting www. southernpine.com. SFPA does not test lumber or establish design values. SFPA’s primary function is to market lumber products and to help users understand Southern Pine grading rules and design values.