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CLICK HERE
to Listen to the
Conference.

Hayes D. Brown

starting time: (00:00)

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.

James R. Hyland

(00:35)

Jim Hyland is the Chief of the Forest Health Section of the Alabama Forestry Commission and has spent many years teaching foresters and landowners how to detect, control and prevent infestations of the Southern Pine Beetle (SPB). He will answer the question: "How can I as a landowner prevent Southern Pine Beetles from attacking and killing my pines?"

Current Alabama SPB Monitoring & Control Information

SPB Internet Control Center   

phone: (334) 240-9363 
email: hylandj@forestry.state.al.us  

Dr. Doug Boylan

(04:08)

Doug Boylan is a Consulting Research Engineer for the Southern Company, the parent company of five electric utilities, including Alabama Power Company. He has studied the burning (co-firing) of bio-mass (grass, wood, agricultural wastes, etc.) in coal-fired power plants and will help us understand the implications of the U.S. Senate's Energy Bill requirements: 10 percent of electricity by 2019 would have to come from renewable fuels such as wind, solar energy, and forest and agricultural wastes. Of course, if the bill emerges from the conference committee and becomes law with the renewable fuels requirement intact (that requirement was not included in the House-passed version), many landowners and mill owners will be seeking the opportunity to sell wood and bark to the power companies as a source of fuel. As buyers of electricity and potential suppliers of fuel to the electric companies, forest owners will want to pay close attention to this issue.

• Southern Company's Environmental Report
• Southern Company's Environmental Website
• Biomass Co-Firing at Southern Company
• Department of Energy Description of Co-Firing Projects with Pictures
• Switchgrass document with Picture
• U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
• The 977 Page Energy Bill
• A Summary of the Energy Bill
• Evaluating the Case for Renewable Energy - Cato Policy Analysis
• Energy Bill passed by Senate... Fox News Story
• Boylan to Speak June 27 to AFOA Members

phone: (205) 257-6917
email: dmboylan@southernco.com

Stephen M. Newton

(08:00)

This Is Your Invitation:
Forest Landowners Washington Fly-In June 19 & 20

Steve Newton, Executive Vice President of the Forest Landowners Association, will soon lead a group of forest landowners on a visit to the "Halls of Congress." They hope to "show our elected leaders that private forestry and forest landowners are an important economic and political force in the U.S."

Issues that will be raised include the Canadian Lumber Agreement, Timber Taxes, including Status of Estate Tax Repeal, Reforestation Tax Credit, and Section 631(b) Treatment of Lump Sum Timber Sale Income, and the U.S. Forest Service Budget (especially the State & Private Division that is funding the National Network of Forest Landowners and Alabama Treasure Forest Association).

Click Here to Read Position Statement on National Network of Forest Landowners.
"...tax payer dollars are being squandered on programs that are already being fulfilled by a variety of other privately funded groups..."

Click Here for Washington Fly-In Registration Information.

phone: (404) 325-2954
email: snewton@forestland.org

William G. Hubbard

(13:06)

Bill Hubbard is the Southern Regional Extension Forester. He helps extension forestry experts at Auburn and other universities across the South. A recent email to those extension forestry specialists included a "quick summary" of the part of the farm bill (Title VIII) that affects forestry activities. Click here to review the summary.

• Conference Report - Forestry Title is on page 195 of 250. 
• Forestry Title - pages 346 to 354.
• Associated Press Article on Newly Signed Farm Bill

phone: (706) 542-7813 or 542-3342 
email: whubbard@uga.edu

George C. Owens

(17:46)

George Owens is an enthusiastic salesman for the silvopastoral system - combining the production of pines and cattle on improved pasture. "In the 80's, I found myself with high-priced real estate," Owens says. "I had to find a way to create some cash flow on my ranch. The answer was grazing cattle under planted pines - - in fancier terms, silvopasture." George suggests that landowners, "especially those with small holdings, should consider integrating pines, pasture, and cattle as an alternative to single-commodity management on their land."

Check out a few of these links:

• Dynamic Duo
• The Silvopastoral System: June 8, Texas
• Agroforestry - Forestland Grazing
• Grazing Lands Technology Institute
• "Growing Carbon" brochure
• National Agroforestry Center

USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS):

• Auburn, Alabama, State Office
• Gainesville, Florida, State Office 
• Washington, DC, National Office

phone: (850) 482-9508
email: owens.gc@att.com

Dr. Deborah Gaddis

(20:48)

Debbie Gaddis, Assistant Extension Specialist at Mississippi State University, gives us a few ideas on how we might reduce income taxes on silvopasture operations. We are particularly interested in the possibility of expensing pruning costs, since next month Dr. Terry Clason will tell us how to increase timber quality and value by pruning. Early expensing of the pruning costs, because they improve the forage capacity of the land, might be preferable to capitalizing those costs and waiting until timber harvest to recapture them. Dr. Gaddis recommends that we obtain a copy of Tax Considerations for the Establishment of Agroforestry Practices written by Dr. Larry Godsey at the University of Missouri. Call him for a copy at (573) 884-3216.

She also recommends a visit to the following websites:

• University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry
• University of Florida Center for Subtropical Agroforestry

phone: (662) 325-8002
email: dgaddis@ext.msstate.edu

Robert E. Loper

(24:25)

Robert Loper is a member of the Tuscaloosa County Forestry Planning Committee. On a recent rainy Saturday morning, Robert led a field exercise for about 20 forest owners on the use of low-cost Global Positioning System units ($150 to $300 range). We measured the acreage in a field by walking around the edges with our GPS units. In a few weeks Robert will teach an indoor class on transferring the GPS data to maps.

Some examples of uses of the GPS for landowners:

• Acreage calculations for aerial spraying cost planning
• Marking SPB (Southern Pine Beetle) spots
• Calculating sizes of timber stands and wildlife plots
• Marking hazards on the property
• Setting up timber inventory test plots
• Creating maps for prescribed fire plans
• Assisting in locating corners and boundaries of property
• Marking spots of interest on the property
• Not getting lost

Links to GPS Manufacturers and Mapping Software:

• http://www.garmin.com
• http://www.magellangps.com/
• http://maptech.com/
• http://www.softree.com

phone: (205) 758-8742 (please call before 8 PM Central Time)
email: loperel@bellsouth.net

Eddie Stone

(27:02)

Eddie Stone is a consulting forester and owner of Forever Green, Inc. He sells stumpage for numerous forest owners and, like everyone else in the wood business today, has had to face a declining market for pine pulpwood. Eddie urges landowners to view the thinning of pulpwood as a silvicultural operation, not as a source of income. His goal is to improve the quality of pine stands so that higher percentages of sawtimber can be harvested in the future. 

Recent Headlines:

• Louisiana-Pacific Corp - Plan For Major Divestitures (link no longer works)
• China Promotes Six Key Programs to Protect Forests (link no longer works)
• Price Rise Expected on Corrugated Cardboard (link no longer works)
• Louisiana-Pacific Will Shed 4,400 Workers (link no longer works)

phone: (205) 702-4420
email: edstone@mindspring.com

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

• Energy Bill
• CCA Treated Southern Pine Lumber
• TMDLs
• EPA Basin Projects
• CARA
• Forest Certification
• 2002 Farm Bill
• Energy Crisis & Federal Eminent Domain
• Red Hills Salamander

• State or Local Issues

• 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

• Forest Management Issues

• Seasonal Forest and Wildlife Management Tips
• Southern Pine Beetle: Salvage & Prevention
• Forest Fertilization
• Intensive Forest Management
• Long Rotation Management & Natural Regeneration

• Technology

• Palm Pilots & Forest Records
• Useful Computer Software

• Markets

• 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

• Forest Taxation

• Tax Breaks for Non-Profits Unfair to Private Forest Owners?
• Repeal of Estate Tax
• Forest Taxation: Income, Estate, & Property
• Section 631(b) Capital Gains Tax Change