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CAPITAL IDEAS -- LIVE!
September 2007 News Conference for Forest
Owners
Sponsored by the Alabama Forest Owners' Association, Inc.
This Conference was recorded on September 19, 2007.
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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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Ms. Rebecca Moore
(00:26)
Hear Conference |
Wow! What a View! Rebecca Moore
is the
Google Earth Outreach Manager of Google,
Inc., headquartered in
Mountain View, California. If you've never experienced the thrill of using
Google Earth, do so now. The basic version is free, and, from the comfort of
your own computer, you can take a virtual tour of your favorite places
around the world--and even your own property--and view high-resolution aerial and satellite imagery in spectacular 3D. You
can zoom, tilt, and rotate; measure distances; create placemarks; turn on
various layers of mapping information such as roads, shopping and services,
geographic features, 3D buildings, gas, food and lodging; print, save,
and email your images/views. In the more advanced versions of Google
Earth (available by purchase), you can import GPS data, and depending on the
version, you can even make movies.
We are eager to learn much more about Google Earth, so Rebecca, let's fly!
Email:
khurowitz@google.com
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Jeremy Lowery
(04:59)
Hear Conference |
New Best Management Practices Manual
Jeremy Lowery is the BMP
Coordinator at the
Alabama Forestry
Commission. His responsibilities include Best Management Practices
(BMP) complaint remediation, random monitoring, training, and working with
the Alabama Clean Water Partnerships. Recently, the Commission updated and reprinted the
BMP
Manual, which is designed to help landowners and loggers better
understand how to prevent stream pollution during and following logging
operations and other activities, such as site preparation for tree planting.
Jeremy will explain what changes have been made in the BMP Manual,
and why.
Phone: (334) 240-9365
Email:
jeremy.lowery@forestry.alabama.gov
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Mr. Steve Guy
(08:25)
Hear Conference |
Save Money with
Current-Use Assessment
Steve Guy is the Director of the
Forestry, Soybean and Wildlife Divisions of the Alabama Farmers Federation in Montgomery,
Alabama. As we learned in a
previous
edition of Capital Ideas -- Live!, many states provide tax incentives
to encourage the ownership and nurturing of forestland. In Alabama, these
incentives
come in the form of the current-use tax
assessment program. Current-use is designed to allow landowners to
preserve their forestland and farms as they are rather than being
forced to develop them because of tax pressures that might result if the
properties were valued at their highest use. Steve will discuss the concept
of current-use and why it is so important. He will also tell us how a
forest landowner can apply for it. Please note, though, that there are
deadlines for doing so (see below).
Application deadlines: "Any taxpayer
interested in obtaining current-use valuation must make an application with
the county assessing official between October 1 and January 1 of any
given year.... Once current-use valuation is granted by the county
assessing official, the owner of the property is not required to repeat the
application for subsequent years." Source: Alabama
Department of Revenue, Current-Use (emphasis added).
Phone: (334) 613-4305
Email:
sguy@alfafarmers.org
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Dr. Delton Alderman
(11:27)
Hear Conference |
Growing Veneer Quality Hardwoods
Delton Alderman is a research
scientist with the USDA Forest Service in Princeton, West Virginia, and
conducts
research that focuses on eastern hardwoods. Veneer quality trees are less
than 1% of the eastern hardwood forest but can command prices upwards of 2
to 10 times greater than Grade 1 sawlogs. Silvicultural manipulations can be
detrimental to veneer production if not applied correctly and he emphasizes
that stands must be individually evaluated. On Capital Ideas --Live!
he will talk about how quality attributes of hardwood veneer are affected by
forest management practices. He will present findings from the log buyer’s
perspective and options on how forest landowners can manage timberland to
obtain veneer quality trees.
Phone: (304) 431-2734
Email:
dalderman@fs.fed.us
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Dr. Lori G. Eckhardt
(14:52)
Hear Conference |
Pine Root Rot on Sandy Soils
Lori Eckhardt is an Assistant
Professor of Forest Pathology and Entomology at the
Auburn University
School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, with expertise in fungal
diseases. Her topic will be Fomes annosus, a fungus that commonly
affects conifers by rotting away their roots. Large portions of Alabama are
within the hazard zone of annosus, and loblolly pine trees can be at
particular risk of infection after a stand is thinned. If left unchecked,
the disease can lead to pine mortality, reduced growth, and increased bark
beetle attacks. To help give us a better understanding of this important
disease, Dr. Eckhardt will explain the signs and symptoms of annosus root rot,
the areas that are at risk, and some management strategies that forest
landowners can use in dealing with annosus.
Phone: (334) 844-2720
Email:
eckhalg@auburn.edu
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Mr. Brian Smith
(17:31)
Hear Conference |
Prescribed Burning Services
Brian Smith is the Chilton
County Manager of the Alabama Forestry Commission and
oversees all their county operations. One of the services that the Commission offers to landowners is prescribed burning--the controlled use of fire to achieve forest management objectives,
such as hazard reduction, hardwood control, site preparation, wildlife
habitat improvement, and disease control. Brian will talk about who qualifies for
these services, what the process entails from the point of contact until the
prescribed burn is complete, and what the Commission charges for these services.
Editor's Note (10/4/07): Since September 19, the AFC has reduced the
price of Understory Burning from $20/acre to $15/acre.
Phone: (205) 755-3042
Email:
chilton.county@forestry.alabama.gov
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Mr. Scott P. Jones
(20:14)
Hear Conference |
Water & Energy Bills
Update
Scott
Jones is the Executive Vice President of the
Forest Landowners
Association based in Atlanta, Georgia. He will update us on two key
pieces of legislation pending before Congress--the Energy Bill and the
proposed Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007--and discuss how they might
impact forest landowners. Of particular note are: (1) the forest biomass
provisions in the Energy Bill, and (2) the expansion of federal jurisdiction
over waters of the United States in the Clean Water Bill. Scott will also talk about what landowners need to do to stay involved in
these important issues.
Phone: (800) 325-2954
Email:
sjones@forestlandowners.com
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Arthia W. Rye
(24:08)
Hear Conference |
Timber Market Report
Billy Rye is the owner and manager
of Forest Management
Specialists, Inc., a forestry consulting firm based in Florence,
Alabama, serving forest landowners in the Mid-South region since 1996. He has been a frequent guest on Capital Ideas -- Live!, and we always look forward to his insightful analysis. In this
edition of our news program, Billy will discuss the
impact of the extended drought on stumpage prices, the current markets for
standing timber, and the factors he thinks could affect future markets for
standing timber.
Phone: (256) 765-0397
Email:
formgtspec@aol.com
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