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CAPITAL IDEAS -- LIVE!
MAY 2009
News Conference for Forest Owners
Sponsored by the Alabama Forest Owners' Association, Inc.
This Conference was recorded on MAY 20, 2009.
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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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Dr. Robert A. Tufts
(00:29)
Hear Conference |
Estate Planning: 2009
Robert Tufts was the last speaker
at AFOA's April 2009 Annual Meeting Educational Conference, but nearly all
the chairs were filled in Bald Rock Lodge's main hall as he told us what to
fix and what to leave alone in our estate plans. Robert has provided
some of the
slides he used at Cheaha for you to review; we quote his last "Summary"
slide:
- Congress will probably enact some
type of legislation this year and the estate tax will not disappear in
2010
- If you make a taxable transfer
this year you will probably be wasting your money
- After the legislation passes
follow the news to determine whether you need to visit your tax
professional
Terms Used in the slides:
- GST - generation-skipping
transfer is generally a transfer to a grandchild while the child's
parents are still living and generates an additional gift or estate tax
- 2032A - provides a reduced value
for certain real property similar to current use for property tax
- AEA - applicable exclusion amount
is the new term for unified credit and is the amount that can be passed,
free of estate tax, at your death
- CRAT - charitable remainder
annuity trust is a trust where the grantor funds a trust and receives an
annual payment for the remainder of his life or the joint lives of the
grantor and spouse. A charity receives the remainder after the grantor
and spouse die.
- LLC - limited liability company's
are a very good vehicle for estate planning
- FLP - family limited partnerships
were used for estate planning, but generally don't provide as many
benefits as an LLC
- QPRT - qualified personal
residence trust allows the grantor to transfer ownership of a home for a
fraction of its value
- GRAT - grantor retained annuity
trust is a trust set up for a term of years less than the grantor's life
that is an effective estate-freezing technique
- 7520 - refers to section 7520 of
the internal revenue code and is the interest rate used to value QPRTs,
CRATs and GRATs which changes monthly with the applicable federal rates
Phone: (334) 844-1011
Email: tuftsra@auburn.edu
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Ann Dugan
(04:05)
Hear Conference |
A Woman's Place...
Ann Dugan is the founder,
executive director and assistant dean of the
Institute for
Entrepreneurial Excellence, part of the
Joseph M. Katz
Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. Ann is also
an associate of the
Family Business
Consulting Group, an organization that provides leadership in the field
of education and consulting to the closely held or family firm. The Family
Business Consulting Group sponsors
frequent nationwide telephone audio conferences that are listed in
AFOA's Calendar of
Events. Today we asked Ms. Dugan to tell us about the role of women in
the family business and the book she co-authored on that topic.
Buy the Book:
Phone: (412) 648-1544
Email: adugan@katz.pitt.edu
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Craig Blake
(08:49)
Hear Conference |
The Trouble with Ethanol
Craig Blake, along with
wife Lorraine, operates
a sawmill supply and
small equipment business in southern Massachusetts. He is also a
part-time sawyer, and a nationally recognized authority on swingmills, a
type of portable sawmill. On their website it says: "All of the items in our
online store are personally tested in OUR sawmill business, and are our
favorites." We read an article by Craig in the March 2009 issue of
Independent Sawmill &
Woodlot Management magazine, and we thought you would find it
interesting, too. In the article,
The Trouble
with Ethanol, Craig describes 3 problems caused by the 10%
ethanol now mixed in nearly all gasoline, and he follows up with solutions
to each. Those of us who have old chainsaws and brush cutters may have more
serious problems, since new equipment is being designed with ethanol in
mind. As you probably already know from experience, improper equipment
storage is a source of problems, with or without ethanol, so his advice on
storage is doubly important.
Phone: (508) 285-5475
Email:
craig@majestystables.com
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Suz-Anne Kinney
(12:45)
Hear Conference |
New Bio Energy Newsletter
Suz-Anne Kinney is
Communications Manager at
Forest2Market,
a timber pricing service company, and serves as the Editor of both the
company’s newsletters -- Forest2Mill and Forest2Fuel. "She has
been researching and writing about the wood bioenergy industry since joining
Forest2Market, much of the time focusing on the U.S. South." In preparing
for this news conference, we joked with Suz-Anne about much of the
"irrational exuberance" displayed in most stories about bio energy, and her
rapid retort was that F2M's publications are based on data-based facts, not
hype. Her new (and free) publication, Forest2Fuel, with the first
issue to be published in June, will cover the following topics:
o Economic trends and forecasts
o Industry trends
o Legislation and government policies that
affect the industry
o Technological developments
o Production and consumption updates
o People and companies involved in the industry
Newsletter Registration and Past Articles:
Phone: (704) 357-0110 x 21
Email:
suz-anne.kinney@forest2market.com
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James C. Gauntt
(16:41)
Hear Conference |
Crossties: a market for Alabama hardwoods
Jim Gauntt knows a lot about
crossties. He is the Executive Director of the
Railway Tie Association, a
91-year old timber trade association dedicated to improving the life-cycle
economic performance of the engineered wood crosstie system. While most of
us don't ride on trains, a lot of things we use do - automobiles, lumber,
coal, grain to name a few. There are millions of ties in the roadbeds of our
railway system and wood crossties are the best product for the job (ties
last 30-35 years on average). Jim tells us how many are needed each year
and gives us his take on what the railroad industry will need from forest
owners in the future.
MORE ABOUT CROSSTIES:
Phone: (770) 460-5553
Email: jgauntt@rta.org
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Merdith C. Lockwood
(20:32)
Hear Conference |
Trail
Planning & Construction
Cam Lockwood earned a
masters degree in Recreation Planning and Design from California State
University Chico and has worked for the past 34 years for several federal
agencies including the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service. He
currently leads a trails training program called
Trails
Unlimited. "Trails Unlimited has developed a series of Training
Modules with detailed manuals, exercises and field applications, and has
team members and equipment ready to provide new trail construction,
maintenance or reconstruction services." Cam and his team have developed 9
training modules that recreational organizations and agencies can use when
training their staff members. We thought a review of some of the modules
outlines would be helpful if you are thinking about building or improving
trails on your land.
The Module Titles are:
(link to module outline)
- Trail Planning
- Trail Layout and Design
- Trail Construction
- Mechanized Trail Equipment Training &
Certification
- Advanced Mechanized Trail Construction
Techniques
- Monitoring
- Operation and Maintenance
- Sound Management and Enforcement
- Contracting
Phone: (626) 233-4309
Email: clockwood01@fs.fed.us
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Dr. David Mercker
(24:59)
Hear Conference |
Conducting a Simple Timber Inventory
David Mercker, Extension
Specialist at the
University of Tennessee Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries,
has co-authored a 21 page publication that every landowner who uses the help
of a forester will want to have in his library.
Conducting a Simple Timber Inventory provides the answers to
scores of questions that each one of us has had when hiring a forester or
when reading his inventory reports and management plans. We especially liked
the inclusion of Volume Tables (pages 13, 14, & 15) that will give you an
idea of how many board feet or cords are in a tree of a certain diameter and
height.
Phone: (731) 425-4703
Email: dcmercker@utk.edu
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Dr. Mark D. Smith
(27:53)
Hear Conference |
Food Plot Fallacies
Mark Smith is Assistant
Professor/Extension Specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension
System, School of
Forestry & Wildlife Sciences at Auburn University. AFOA members have
seen Mark's name in our
Calendar of Events
as organizer and contact person for numerous wildlife management workshops,
so learning that Mark has published several interesting articles on deer,
turkey and quail management will come as no surprise. What may surprise many
landowners and hunters is the title of Mark's series of 3 articles in
Alabama
Wildlife magazine -- Fallacies of Food Plots. Today he
discusses the effectiveness of food plots and suggests more "well-rounded"
habitat improvement methods.
3 Part Series from Alabama Wildlife:
Phone: (334) 844-8099
Email: mds0007@auburn.edu
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