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CAPITAL IDEAS -- LIVE!
April 2002 News
Conference for Forest Owners
Sponsored by Alabama Forest Owners' Association, Inc.
Conference was recorded Wednesday,
April 24, 2002.
Scroll Down for
Conference Guest Information
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Hayes D. Brown
starting time: (00:00) |
Moderator
Hayes D. Brown, attorney and forest owner, will moderate this
news conference. Hayes' email address is
hbrown@hayesbrown.com.
Click Here to View & Hear Prior News Conferences.
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Steve Wilent
(00:32) |
The World
Turned Upside Down
Steve Wilent is a contributing writer to The Forestry Source,
the newspaper of the Society of American Foresters. He teaches forestry
at Mt. Hood Community College in Grasham, Oregon. We "met" Steve several
years ago on an email listserv sponsored by the Society of American
Foresters and have found him to be a stimulating discussion leader,
constantly probing and questioning our ways of thinking. A few weeks ago
he suggested we read an article in the Atlantic Monthly that explores
the possibility that the western hemisphere was vastly more exploited
and populated by humans at the time Columbus arrived in 1492, than we
were ever taught to believe in school.
Steve has isolated a few paragraphs for
discussion:
Click here to read the full article: 1491 by Charles Mann,
The Atlantic Online, March 2002.
Some related web links for more
background information:
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"The Pristine Myth" (The Atlantic Unbound, March 7, 2002) An
interview with Charles C. Mann about the thriving and sophisticated
Indian landscape of the pre-Columbus Americas
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"An Explosion of Green" (The Atlantic Monthly, April 1995)
The forest cover of the eastern United States is today as extensive as
it was prior to the American Revolution. This renewal of the eastern
forest—largely the result of economic accident and largely
unremarked—is, the author argues, the most important environmental story
in the country. By Bill McKibben
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Clark
Erickson's Homepage Associate Professor of Anthropology, University
of Pennsylvania
Includes a photo of Prehispanic raised fields in the region of Santa Ana
de Yacuma, as well as lots of publications downloadable as PDF files.
Phone: (503) 622-5499
Email: swilent@compuserve.com
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Bob Yates
(05:40) |
Deer Hunting
With Dogs: A Problem of Trespass.
Bob Yates
described the picture he sent to us as "indicative of the life I expected
to live when I returned "home" in 1970." His farming interests include
timber, cattle and poultry on 2000 acres he owns and leases. Bob is a
leader of the Alabama
Sportsman's and Landowner's Council and was instrumental in
banning dog deer hunting in Randolph County.
Over the years, many forest owners have
written to AFOA to describe their displeasure with dog hunters who
trespass or allow their dogs to trespass. Most have been hunters
themselves. Bob suggests ways for landowners to be effective in
struggling with the problem of people who do not respect the rights of
property owners. Much of the work of the Council has been to encourage
changes in hunting laws set by the Conservation Advisory Board and he
advises attendance at their meetings and membership in ASLC to help
present a unified voice for landowners.
Conservation Advisory Board Meeting
Scheduled for May 18, 2002
A few newspaper headlines and a web
link:
For more information about the ASLC
write to:
Alabama Sportsman's and Landowner's Council
P. O. Box 8332
Redstone Arsenal, AL 35808
Phone: (256) 449-2912 (Yates) |
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David A. Frederick
(11:38) |
Alabama
Prescribed Burning Act Designed to Encourage Use of Fire.
David
Frederick
is a Division Director of the
Alabama Forestry
Commission. He is currently responsible for Fire and Emergency
Programs, was a leader in getting the Alabama Prescribed Burning Act
passed, and has encouraged the education program that certifies
Prescribed Burners. Fire has played an important role in the development
of Alabama's forest species, including both trees and wildlife, but it
has been increasingly difficult to conduct prescribed burns because of
liability concerns. To encourage the use of fire as a forest management
tool, a section of the Prescribed Burning Act states: "No property
owner or his or her agent, conducting a prescribed burn in compliance
with this article, shall be liable for damages or injury caused by fire
or resulting smoke unless it is shown that the property owner or his or
her agent failed to act within that degree of care required of others
similarly situated."
Click here to read about the law and its implementation (see page 10 for
the actual law).
While most of us have appreciated this law
from a broader perspective, the recent experience of a south Alabama
forest owner compels us to look more closely at it. The landowner in
question found he may be unable to recover damages for the loss of a
fairly large area of planted pines. The young trees were destroyed when
a burn, conducted in compliance with the law, escaped.
For more information on fires in the forest
and prescribed burning,
click here.
Phone: (334) 240-9335
Email:
frederickd@forestry.state.al.us
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Dr. Graeme Lockaby
(15:45) |
Investment
Secrets Revealed in Soil Maps
Graeme Lockaby
likes to get his hands dirty. He is a Professor at Auburn University's
School of
Forestry and Wildlife Sciences who specializes in soils and
their importance in forest management. In the past few issues of his
weekly email newsletter, James M. Vardaman, a consulting forester in
Jackson, Mississippi, has urged landowners to pay closer attention to
the soil under their trees. He recommends that investors who own land
solely for a return on investment and have no plan to use it for other
purposes such as hiking, camping, or hunting, should sell off the land
with poor soils and reinvest the receipts in better quality soil. "If
you discover that you own unproductive land, the sooner you sell it, the
richer you’ll be." says Vardaman.
Graeme will walk us through the use of
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) soils maps and other
publications that are available at most NRCS county offices.
Start here:
HOW TO MAKE PRODUCTIVE INVESTMENTS WITH NRCS SOIL SURVEYS
Phone: (334) 844-1054
Email: lockabg@auburn.edu
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April Lupardus
(18:58) |
Wild Game
Cook-Offs
April Lupardus,
Conservation Programs Specialist at the
Alabama Wildlife
Federation, wants you to join her for dinner in May. She will
have the help of numerous wildlife "chefs" and be accompanied by scores
of hunters and landowners sampling a wide variety of wildlife dishes.
Seven Wild Game Cook-Offs scattered across Alabama are planned for the
following locations:
- May 4 Florence/Town Creek
- May 9 Baldwin County
- May 11 Guntersville
- May 16 Montgomery
- May 21 Tuscaloosa
- May 22 Mobile
- July 27 State Finals in Montgomery
Phone: (205) 836-6123 (Birmingham), (334)
832-9453 (Montgomery)
Email: alabamawf@mindspring.com
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Dr. Eric T. Jones
(21:21) |
Nontimber
Forest Products in the United States
Eric Jones, a partner at the
Institute for Culture and
Ecology, Portland, Oregon, is co-editor of a book being
published in May by the University Press of Kansas entitled
Nontimber Forest Products in the United States. "This book
provides the first comprehensive examination of nontimber forest
products (NTFPs) in the United States, illustrating their diverse
importance, describing the people who harvest them, and outlining the
steps that are being taken to ensure access to them."
Click here for book outline. The 424 page book sells for $60 (cloth)
or $29.95 (paper) with a $3 shipping and handling fee. To order, call
(785) 864-4155.
For further reading and study on the
subject of nontimber forest products, Dr. Jones suggests a visit to the
Institute's database web page:
Click here.
Phone: (503) 331-6681
Email: etjones@ifcae.org |
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Dr. Ed Wilson
(24:29) |
Vacant Land
Liability Insurance
Ed Wilson,
agent for Davis-Garvin Agency, Columbia, South Carolina, handles
several group liability insurance policies for AFOA including our
Timberland Liability Group Policy. There are many reasons why forest
owners might want to protect themselves from liability claims made by
trespassers or non-commercial guests, and Ed explains why more than 200
members use AFOA's group coverage. He'll also describe coverage that may
not be included in other policies not designed for owners of forestland.
Background information on landowner liability:
Click here to view AFOA
Timberland Liability Group Policy application.
(pdf file)
Phone: 1-800-845-3163
Email: ewilson@davisgarvin.com |
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Prof. Thomas G. Harris, Jr.
(26:56) |
Current
Prices Have Improved Over Past 12 Months...
...except for pine pulpwood
Tom Harris
is publisher of
Timber Mart-South and has been a guest on Capital Ideas -
Live! in July 2001 and September 2000. Timber Mart-South is a
forest products price service available to subscribers and is quoted
regularly in AFOA's monthly newsletter. A recent TMS press release (1st
Quarter 2002) included this comment: "Compared to 1st Quarter 2001,
prices for four out of the five major timber products have risen
significantly."
Click here to read the full
press release. (pdf file)
A few headlines:
Phone: (706) 542-2832
Email:
harris@smokey.forestry.uga.edu
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Issues and Topics AFOA is
following.
To suggest an issue or a
topic for a future news conference,
please send an email note to AFOA by clicking here. |
- National or Federal Issues
- CCA Treated Southern Pine Lumber
- TMDLs
- EPA Basin Projects
- CARA
- Forest Certification
- 2002 Farm Bill
- Energy Crisis & Federal Eminent
Domain
- Red Hills Salamander
- Constitutional Revision/Tax Reform
- County Zoning
- Right to Farm & Practice Forestry
- Illegal Dumping
- Delaney Family Current-Use Case
- JeffCo Storm Water Management Program
- Current Use Tax Assessment Rates
- Local Harvesting Restrictions & Road
Weight Limits
- Bridge Repairs & the Alabama Trust
Fund
- Dog Hunting & Hunter Trespass
- Seasonal Forest and Wildlife
Management Tips
- Southern Pine Beetle: Salvage &
Prevention
- Forest Fertilization
- Intensive Forest Management
- Long Rotation Management & Natural
Regeneration
- Palm Pilots & Forest Records
- Useful Computer Software
- Industry Consolidation & Timber
Markets
- Stumpage & Forest Product Markets
- Forestland For Sale
- Wood Buying Policies During SPB
Epidemic
- Alabama's Pine Straw Wholesale Market
- Minerals, Gas & Oil Activity
- Recreational Businesses for Forest
Owners
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