Industry News Roundup

As We See It: What’s In A Word?

By Danny Dructor

For close to a year now, the American Loggers Council has worked to obtain funding for those timber harvesting and hauling businesses throughout the United States that have been adversely impacted by curtailments in markets and production as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

We were successful in getting language in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CFAP 2) that became law in late December that included the following language:

“Provided further, That from the amounts provided in this section, the Secretary of Agriculture may use not more than $200,000,000 to provide relief to timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses that have, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, experienced a loss of not less than 10 percent in gross revenue during the period beginning on January 1, 2020, and ending on December 1, 2020, as compared to the gross revenue of that timber harvesting or hauling business during the same period in 2019:”

We have italicized the word may in the text for good reason. The original text that we thought was included in the bill used the word shall. What happens when you change the word from shall to may? The appropriation becomes discretionary rather than mandatory, so now we are once again at the mercy of the agency who is tasked to implement a program, as they see fit.

It has now been three months since the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

On March 24, 2021, the administration announced in a press release that they have identified gaps in previous aid to producers, in which both timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses are included. That is the good news.

The bad news is that after three months of back-and-forth discussions after the bill has passed, and the previous six-seven months of communicating our needs to members of Congress in order to get the language into the Appropriations Act, we are now faced with a rulemaking process as required by the Administrative Procedures Act.

This could add, at a minimum, another 120 days to the wait before timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses could see a penny of the funds distributed to those in need.

Let’s just hope that may not be too late for many of you who have suffered from loss of markets, quotas, downtime and the uncertainty of being able to have the capital to pay your fixed costs such as insurance and equipment notes. We will continue to engage a bureaucracy that truly does not understand what it is like to run a capital intensive, low-margin business and look for ways to expedite the funding to your businesses. A good starting point would be to have a Congressional Oversight hearing as to why the agencies are not meeting the intent of Congress.

Who changed the language from shall to may? We may never know, but in a society where interpretation means everything, this has placed another barrier in our efforts.

Dructor

Danny Dructor is Executive Vice President of American Loggers Council, a 501(c)(6) trade association representing the interests of timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses across the United States. For more information visit www.amloggers.com.

Again this year, International Paper (IP) is offering a program that’s funded $500,000 in academic research grants the past two years to explore new technology and key issues for forest landowners and the forest prod ucts industry. Since 2019, International Paper has asked U.S. universities for research proposals to ex plore innovations in: remote sensing technology; timber supply modeling; understanding and managing risk from the forest to the mill; and the relative advantages of important global wood baskets.

During the past two years, six programs at four universities were select ed for funding. North Carolina State University (NCSU) and Mississippi State University are researching timber supply modeling with the ultimate goal of improving market models that predict resource trends and prices. Virginia Tech and Texas A&M are exploring remote sensing technologies that will help characterize forest attributes.

Virginia Tech is evaluating satellite and aerial imagery to estimate stand characteristics over large areas, and Texas A&M will be studying the use of space-borne and aerial sensors. Mississippi State University and NCSU are also conducting a comparative assessment of global wood fiber production.

SC Road Entrance Permit Now In Effect

In South Carolina, the SCDOT Blanket Encroachment Permit is now in effect for temporary logging road entrances. The department requires an encroachment permit any time travel or work is done on or across a state owned right-of-way. The permit lets SCDOT know where the access is and what type of activity is being conducted and is required to be kept on the job site.

The SC Timber Producers Assn., Forestry Assn. of SC and the SC Forestry Commission worked with SCDOT to develop the temporary logging road access encroachment permit. The permit is annual, and there is no fee charged. The permit came to be required after some loggers constructing access roads in unsafe locations, improper drainage or otherwise damaged the state rightof-way.

Nate Schuele, 22 years old and a fourth generation saw yer, has a new best friend: the SL130i Serra mobile sawmill. The previous one (of another brand) had to be replaced due to a motor damage.

Schuele got his first impression of Serra and the sawmills by YouTube videos. He found the videos hugely impressive and especially liked the re ceivers for offloading sawn lumber. For the decision he explains: “We were looking at multiple alternatives but the Walt and Nate Schuele are very satisfied with their Serra SL 130i, which was immediately ready for action after a demonstration in Nashville. Serra seemed to have so many good features, larger band, thinner kerf, receivers for sawn lumber, better band wheel technology, etc.” The availability of the Serra demo machine in Nashville convinced them, too, because it was already stateside and built.

Nate and Walt Schuele, the two owners of Full Tilt Timber Framing in Glancy, Mont., produce dimensional lumber and timbers for timber frames (around 150-200MBF annually). The Serra mill has fit into their process perfectly.

Nate Schuele comments on the mobile sawmill: “The independent loading arms are a huge improvement. The computer is actually worth using. The dogs have a steep learning curve but once we learned how to use them, they are also much better than anything we’ve had. The operator’s station is also a huge improvement to walking with the head or the exposed remote operating stations we had before.”

The switch to the new machine was easy for him. Nate learned the computer and calibrating the joystick. He had no major changes, just re-learning the setup. The employees get along with the machine very well, too, and also the clients are im pressed.

Nate is also happy with the Serra customer service and says: “The best customer service I’ve ever received. We are very satisfied and we want to tour the factory and thank everyone.”

Project Learning Tree Has New Curriculum

Project Learning Tree (PLT) re cently released a new curriculum guide to engage kindergarten through grade 8 students in exploring their environment. Project Learning Tree is a long-established, award-winning environmental education program that uses trees and forests as windows on the world to ad vance environmental literacy, stewardship, and pathways to green careers.

The guide includes 50 field-tested, hands-on activities that integrate in vestigations of nature with science, math, English language arts, and so cial studies. It incorporates outdoor education and connects youth to na ture which has many proven benefits.

Educators can obtain a copy of PLT’s Explore Your Environment: K8 Activity Guide directly from PLT’s Shop or by attending a local PLT professional development workshop conducted by PLT’s 50state network of 75 coordinators and 1,000 facilitators across the country. This new, cutting-edge resource for educators offers ro bust, real-world learning experiences for students designed to bolster STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning, promote civic engagement, and help young people acquire the skills they’ll need to be creative problem solvers. The activities develop

students’ critical thinking skills as they participate in hands-on learning, debate real-life environmental decisions, and engage with their community in action projects.

RoyOMartin Mill Celebrates 25 Years

RoyOMartin commemorated 25 years of operations at its plywood manufacturing facility in Chopin, La. with a ceremony featuring a look back at the beginning stages of the plant and the impact it has had on the company and community since its inception.

Construction began in August 1994 on the Natchitoches Parish mill, which continues to be one of the largest of its kind in North America. Its first press load of southern yellow pine plywood panels was produced on March 8, 1996.

Actually then president, the late Johnny Martin had drawn up a new pine sawmill to take advantage of the company’s substantial pine timberland coming of age, but the more Martin and his team looked at the situation, the clearer it became that a softwood plywood plant was the answer.

Thirty-five current employees from the original startup team were honored for their 25 years of service to the company. COO E. Scott Poole commented, “We may have added equipment through the years, but none of that makes this history worth celebrating until we add the dedication of the men and women who have stood through the good and not-sogood times. We are the best because of them.”

SFI Launches Urban Forest Initiative

Officials with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc. (SFI) recently announced the launch of a partnership to develop a new SFI Urban and Community Forest Sustainability Standard for application in North America and potentially globally. SFI will collaborate with five urban for estry leaders: American Forests, Ar bor Day Foundation, the International Society of Arboriculture, the Society of Municipal Arborists, and Tree Canada.

“The SFI network is looking forward to collaborating with our urban forestry partners to promote the establishment of sustainable urban and community forests that meet local needs, while meaningfully contributing to national, bi-national, and global initiatives such as the 2 Billion

Tree initiative in Canada,” says Kathy Abusow, SFI President and CEO. “Together, with these leaders, I’m confident SFI will positively contribute to urban forestry initiatives across North America and globally.”

SFI’s commitment to developing an urban and community forestry standard goes beyond the launch of this new partnership. It is also em bodied in the decision to create a new staff position: Director of Urban and Community Forestry. Paul Johnson assumed this new role on March 15. Johnson brings over 20 years of ur ban and community forestry experience and deep connections to an international network of partners to his new role. As Paul always says, “Trees are key to healthier, happier, safer communities.”

USDA Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen announced the issuance of more than $193 million to support public schools, roads and other mu nicipal services through the agency’s Secure Rural Schools program. The funding will be delivered as payments to more than 700 eligible counties in 41 states and Puerto Rico.

In addition to payments for schools and roads, the Secure Rural Schools program supports Firewise Communities programs, reimburses counties for emergency services on national forests, and funds development of community wildfire protection plans.

The Forest Service retains a portion of Secure Rural Schools program funds to support projects that im prove forest conditions and support jobs in rural communities. Resource advisory committees, made up of local residents representing varied areas of interest and expertise, review and recommend projects that meet their local needs. Beginning in 1908, the Secure Rural Schools program allowed the Forest Service to share 25% of its revenues from timber sales, mineral leases, livestock grazing, recreation fees, and other sources with counties in and around national forests. By the 1980s, largely because of diminished timber sales volume, Forest Service revenues from these sources began to decline.

The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 replaced the revenue sharing model with a guaranteed level of payments, giving forest-dependent rural communities a more reliable set of funding, while protecting forest resources that provide clean water, recreation opportunities and other benefits. These payments were most recently reauthorized for fiscal years 2019 and 2020 by the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020.

Payment amounts are determined by a number of factors set in the law, including acres of federal land within an eligible county, an income adjustment based on the per capita personal income for each county, and the 5% reduction in the overall payments each year.