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CAPITAL IDEAS -- LIVE!
NOVEMBER 2012 News Conference for Forest Owners
Sponsored by the Alabama Forest Owners' Association, Inc.
This Conference was recorded on November 28,
2012
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Hayes D. Brown
starting time: (00:00)
Comment |
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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John R. Cooper
(00:25)
Hear Conference
Comment |
Repairing Alabama's
Rural Bridges & Roads
John Cooper is the
Director of the
Alabama Department of
Transportation. He was appointed
to that
state cabinet position by Governor Robert Bentley. We asked him to tell
us about a program to fund the repair of roads and bridges in Alabama, but
first a little background information.
Unless you are
in the logging business or are a forest owner whose land and timber are
locked behind a weight-limited bridge or impassable rural road, you may
not be aware that there are about 1,300 bridges in Alabama with weight
restrictions of 15 tons (a loaded log truck will weigh 40 tons or more).
If your land is behind one of these restricted bridges,
timber hauling costs will be
higher and stumpage payments to you will be lower, sometimes
considerably. To "assist counties and cities across Alabama as they
work to meet the transportation needs of their local areas," Governor
Bentley originated the
Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP).
Backed by nearly $1 billion of future payments of Federal Highway funds,
ATRIP will pay up to 80% of bridge and road repairs. Federal rules
require that local governments must pay 20% matching money to secure the
ATRIP funds, and there's the rub. Many counties do not have money
available for the match and have not applied for ATRIP help.
"Accordingly, working with the Association of County Commissions of
Alabama and the Alabama League of Municipalities, the ATRIP Committee
has developed [a proposal] to establish [the
Rural Assistance Match
Program] RAMP as a means to aid counties and cities with the
necessary matching funds to replace eligible bridges posted for school
bus traffic as well as other projects meeting ATRIP criteria. An
essential element to the establishment of RAMP will be the enactment of
legislation enabling ALDOT to sell bonds utilizing future State Gasoline
Tax receipts to provide the local match for participating counties. The
legislation will be introduced during the 2013 regular session in the
Alabama Senate by
Senator Paul Bussman and in the House of Representatives by
Representative Mac McCutcheon. The legislation will be actively
supported by
Governor Robert Bentley,
Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey,
Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh and
Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard." Counties wishing to participate
in RAMP must inform ALDOT in writing no later than January 9, 2013.
Poorly maintained rural roads and bridges
cost forest landowners loss of income and loss of property value. In some
cases, landowners are discovering that their timber has no commercial value
because there is no way to legally access their property. If you
want to improve bridge and road maintenance in Alabama, AFOA suggests
working with Ray Clifton, Alabama Loggers Council: (334) 481-2130 or
rclifton@alaforestry.org.
Phone: (334) 242-6776
Email:
cooperjr@dot.state.al.us
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Patrick J. Raffaniello
(03:59)
Hear Conference
Comment |
The Fiscal Cliff from the Forest Landowner's Perspective
Pat Raffaniello, as a
Principal in
Raffaniello &
Associates, "advocates in Washington, DC, on behalf of his clients'
legislative and regulatory matters." We learned of Mr. Raffaniello's
Washington expertise in an e-Newsletter of the Forest Landowners
Association. He had briefed the FLA board of directors on
Tax and Budget Issues for the Lame Duck Session at their October 3
board meeting. Unfortunately, Congress and the President seem no closer to
solving the fiscal cliff problems today than they were on October 3. What
might happen to estate tax rates and exclusions? "Does the will I wrote two
years ago need to be updated?" "Should I make a quick sale of timber or land
before January 1?" "Is this a good time to give land or other property to my
kids?" "Does Congress really care about my problems? Does the President?"
Pat has created 5 slides (click
here) on the following topics:
1. Without Congressional Action Before 12/13/12
2. Lame Duck Session
3. Likely Outcomes in Lame Duck
4. If There is an Agreement to Avoid the Cliff
5. If There is No Agreement to Avoid the Cliff
The following list is taken from his first
slide:
- Pre-2001 income tax rates return,
maximum 39.6%
- Phase-out itemized deductions & personal
exemptions
- Marriage penalty returns
- Higher withholding on January 1, 2013
- Millions hit by AMT (starting 1/1/12)
- Maximum capital gains rate goes from 15%
to 20%*
- Maximum rate on dividends goes from 15%
to 39.6%*
- Estate tax is reinstated with $1 million
exemption and 55% maximum rate
- Payroll tax holiday ends (tax increase
of 2%)
Phone: (202) 544-8737
Email:
pat.raffaniello@lobbydc.com
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Dr. Andrew Morriss
(07:37)
Hear Conference
Comment |
Silent Spring at 50
Andy Morriss is the author or
coauthor of more than 60 book chapters, scholarly articles, and books and is
the D. Paul Jones, Jr. & Charlene Angelich Jones Chairholder of Law at
the
University of Alabama School of Law. We were pleased to learn that
one of the co-editors of a new book that explores the "historical context"
of Rachel Carson's
Silent
Spring, "the science it was built on, and the policy consequences of
its core ideas," lives just down the road in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. From the
book jacket of Silent Spring at 50: The False Crises of Rachel Carson,
we read, "Carson made little effort to provide a balanced perspective and
consistently ignored key evidence that would have contradicted her work.
Thus, while the book provided a range of notable ideas, a number of Carson's
major arguments rested on what can only be described as deliberate
ignorance." Silent Spring at 50 "reveals the dangers of substituting
sensationalism for fact, and apocalyptic pronouncements for genuine
knowledge."
More about the Silent Spring at 50
Buy the Book
Phone: (205) 348-9715
Email: amorriss@law.ua.edu
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Dr. James D. Haywood
(11:08)
Hear Conference
Comment |
Longleaf Toppling May Be Stopped with Copper
Dave Haywood is a
Supervisory Research Forester for the
U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station, Pineville, Louisiana.
About 6 or 8 years ago, we noticed some of the 5 year old longleaf trees we
had planted as
container seedlings had tipped over after a storm. The stems had not
snapped; the trees just seemed to have tipped over at the ground level. We
asked a knowledgeable friend about it and he said, "It's called toppling.
Not to worry." Now researchers Dave Haywood, Mary Anne Sayer, and Shi-Jean
Susana Sung have come forward with
information that may prevent toppling. We think you will find it
interesting and hope nurseries will be able to adopt some or all of their
findings.
For Further Study:
Phone: (318) 473-7226
Email: dhaywood@fs.fed.us
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Michelle A. Isenberg
(14:22)
Hear Conference
Comment |
Forest Growth Improved Through Use of Herbicides
Michelle Isenberg is
an expert in herbicide prescriptions and recommendations and is in
partnerships with both a distribution company and an application company,
respectively,
Herbicides Plus LLC and
Custom Air. Herbicide recommendations, herbicide popularity, and new
herbicide availability make for a constantly changing landscape in
Michelle's business. We thought it would be good to hear what the experts
are using to help landowners with tree planting and site preparation needs,
as well as other vegetation management problems we may have on our land.
Michelle's References:
Phone: (256) 749-3261
Email:
michelle.isenberg@customair.us
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George F. Kennedy
(18:35)
Hear Conference
Comment |
Boundary Surveys: Technology Update
Frankie Kennedy is
President of
C & C Surveying, Inc., based in Jasper, Alabama. Frankie was
referred to AFOA by a Walker county forest owner during a discussion on the
new technology used to map properties and resolve boundary line disputes. We work and play with our cell
phones and iPads everyday, so it isn't surprising that some of the same
mapping technology available in those gadgets is available to the folks who
locate our property corners and property lines. We asked Frankie to tell us
about his business and about the changes that have occurred since the GPS
and GIS revolutions began. We were especially interested in how the new
technology can be useful to us, his clients.
Reference Information:
Phone: (205) 275-1518
Email:
gfk345@bellsouth.net
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David Stone
(21:08)
Hear Conference
Comment |
Growing & Marketing Pole Timber
David Stone is a
Pole Timber Buyer for
Cahaba
Timber Company, one of the world's largest manufacturers of pressure
treated utility poles, based in Brierfield, Alabama (Bibb County). If you
don't know the difference between a pine tree that will make a power pole
and one that can only be sawn into 2 x 4s and 2 x 6s, take a look at AFOA's
December 2012 newsletter. In the upper left-hand corner of page 2, you will
find Timber Mart-South Power Pole prices compared to Sawtimber prices. For
the 3rd quarter of 2012, average Alabama sawtimber stumpage was selling for
$23.94, while average Alabama Power Pole stumpage was selling for $52.09.
Times are tough in the sawtimber business right now, but even when
homebuilding was doing fine, say back in 2006, 3rd quarter Timber Mart-South
average Alabama power pole stumpage was selling for $72.44 a ton compared to
pine sawtimber stumpage at $43.53 per ton. The management practices you
apply to your pine stands make a difference; power poles do not appear by
magic.
Suggested Reading & Viewing:
Phone: 1-888-219-9183
Email:
david@cahabatimber.com
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Sara S. Baldwin
(25:12)
Hear Conference
Comment |
Timber Mart-South Market Report
Sara Baldwin is
Senior Editor and
Assistant Manager of
Timber Mart-South, a timber price reporting service housed at the
Warnell School of Forest Resources, The University of Georgia. We asked Sara
to give us a market update and were really impressed with what she, along
with Timber Mart-South Publisher
Thomas Harris, Jr., and Jonathan
Smith and Robert Simmons, TMS editors, put together for us. We know you
will be happy to have available
this wonderful collection of
graphs on Alabama stumpage prices from 1976 to the present and imagine
that you will be referencing them for a long time.
From
The Wall Street Journal, 11/2/12, we read:
The extensive rebuilding that is
expected in the wake of Sandy's devastation is adding kindling to an
already-hot market for lumber.
Prices of lumber futures, which kept trading through the storm, jumped
5% to $319 per 1,000 board feet over the past week, reflecting
expectations of higher demand as homeowners and government officials
across the Northeast wrestle with the challenge of renovation and
reconstruction. Lumber futures are now at their highest level since
March 2011, after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
The gains brought lumber's rise in October to 14%, its biggest monthly
rally in almost two years. Lumber is now up 29% in 2012, outpacing other
industrial materials and commodities, including copper, oil, gold and
natural gas, even though Chinese demand is faltering.
The sudden need for building materials comes at a time when lumber
already is in demand and inventories are low, thanks to a recent rebound
in new-home construction in the U.S. That is likely to keep pushing
prices even higher, investors and analysts said.
"The bottom line here is that there's a wave of demand," said Chris
Palmer, a lumber trader at American Lumber Distributors & Brokers Inc.
in Birmingham, Ala. "There's more housing coming."
TAKE A LOOK AT THE GRAPH OF LUMBER FUTURES
CONTRACTS:
Lumber Gets Pricey in Wake of Sandy and Housing Recovery,
Woodworking Network, 11/12/12
Phone: (706) 542-4760
Email:
sbaldwin@warnell.uga.edu
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