Bill Imbergamo, Executive DirectorArkansas Forestry Association
October 2015
Who are we?• Over 650 sawmills, pulp and paper mills,
engineered wood facilities, biomass power plants, hundreds of logging contractors in 42 States
• Over 390,000 workers• Over $19 billion in payroll• The last best chance for forest management
on our public lands
Who are we?
What is at stake?National Forests Can Help Build and Sustain
High Value Timber Markets
What is at stake?
What is at stake?State: Acres: ASQ: Most Recent:Alabama: 667,000 43 MBF 38.6 MBFArkansas: 3,000,000 208 MBF 110.2 MBFFlorida: 1,200,000 52 MBF 32.2 MBFGeorgia: 749,000 60 MBF 16.4 MBFKentucky: 708,000 11 MBF 7.8 MBFLouisiana: 604,000 48 MBF 60 MBFMississippi: 1,200,000 254 MBF 58.4 MBFNorth Carolina: 1,250,000 43 MBF 16.3 MBFSouth Carolina: 629,000 67 MBF 52.3 MBFTennessee: 655,000 22 MBF 8.5 MBFTexas: 675,000 113 MBF 36.6 MBFVirginia: 1,664,000 54 MBF 17.5 MBFTotal: 13,000,000 975 MBF 454.8 MBF
What is at stake?• Southeastern National Forests are cutting
46.6% of total allowable cut.• NFS timber is sold in competitively bid timber
sales – but sales are not ramped up or down based on market conditions.
• Providing supply – even in down markets – helps stabilize timber demand.
What is at stake?In Arkansas:•Roughly 10 percent of total forest area•Roughly 12 percent of commercial timberland•3 million acres of high-visibility forest management.
What is at stake?In Arkansas:NFS Units have sold an average of 62% of their 208 Million Board Feet (MBF) Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) over the last 5 years.FiscalYear MBF Sold: % of ASQ:2014 134.109 64%2013 110.229 53%2012 131.378 63%2011 142.373 68%2010 135.636 65%
How did we get here?
Current Management Process:(warning: approximate)
Forest Plan
Forest Management Project
Watershed Condition
Terrestrial Condition
Project Level NEPA
Fire Condition Class
CWPP
CFLRA
Road Density
Plant Surveys
Archaeology
Wildlife
Project Level NEPA
T&E Species
Culturally Significant Plants
NPDES Permit?
How did we get here?Current laws (NFMA, NEPA, ESA):• Do not harmonize• Multi-level planning process creates
redundancy, opportunities for judicial second-guessing
• Put judges, not resource professionals, in charge of decision-making
How did we get here?Courts have usually presumed that to “protect”
non-timber values, we must:• Cut fewer trees• Cut on fewer acres• Make it harder to pick the acres to harvest
How did we get here?Clinton Administration presided over a nearly
80 percent decline in NFS timber harvest.• Set aside 60 Million Acres as “roadless”• Proposed moving money out of timber
accounts.• Acres at risk to fire increased from 24 million
in 1999 to 82 million today.
How did we get here?
How did we get here?
How did we get here?
What did we get?
What did we get?
What did we get?
What did we get?
What is to be done?
What is to be done?
What is to be done?
Fire Funding: Symptom, Not Cause
A Two Pronged Approach:HR 2647: The Resilient Federal Forests ActSponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman (Hot Springs!)•Streamlines required analysis•Reduces litigation•Provides new funding sources•Solves “fire borrowing” in a fiscally responsible way.
The Resilient Federal Forest Act: On to the Senate!
• HR 2647 passed the House in July.• Sent to Senate Agriculture Committee• Hearing – November?
The Resilient Federal Forest Act: On to the Senate!
Ask Sen. Boozman and Sen. Cotton to support HR 2647 – fire funding and forest management
Even enacting some of the key provisions in Westerman will help get more management on the ground:•Streamlined analysis for collaborative projects•NEPA Exemption for early successional habitat projects
The Senate can’t help the Forest Service by simply providing a new fire funding mechanism.
The Resilient Federal Forest Act: On to the Senate!How Can You Help?
“Like” FFRC on facebook!www.facebook.com/FederalForestResourceCoalition
“Like” HFHC on facebook!www.facebook.com/healthyforestshealthycommunities/
Say THANK YOU to Congressman Bruce Westerman!