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Archived 1998 News, Issues & Information(12/26/98) Tax Tips for Forest Landowners for the 1998 Tax Year by Larry M. Bishop, Forest Management and Taxation Specialist, is now available. (12/22/98) LANDOWNER LIABILITY IN FEE-HUNTING ENTERPRISES by Dr. Lee Stribling, Auburn University, may be of interest to you if you plan to lease hunting land. (12/09/98) INTERNATIONAL PAPER TO BUY UNION CAMP: If you are selling timber or making contract agreements with Union Camp Corporation, you may find the timber will be harvested or the contract will be fulfilled by International Paper Co. Check with your broker for details about the impacts on your stock holdings and read the IP Press Release. (12/09/98) WANTED TO LEASE FOR HUNTING:
(11/15/98) LAST BEETLE REPORT FOR 1998 shows slight reduction in number of epidemic counties. Worst 10 counties in Alabama Forestry Commission's September monitoring flights were: Pickens, Hale, Dallas, Sumter, Greene, Monroe, Colbert, Marengo, Lawrence, and Choctaw. (10/16/98) WANTED TO LEASE: Small Parcel (15+ acres) within 1 hour of Birmingham; for skeet shooting. Clear-cut, gravel pit, or re-claimed strip mine land OK. Call Mike Baker at (205)871-1880. (9/26/98) ENDANGERED SPECIES "LEGALESE" FOR TIMBERSALE CONTRACTS was requested by a member last month in Capital Ideas. "Do you have any legalese that covers Endangered Species for use in timber contracts -- specifically after a sale and in the logging phase, if, for instance, Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers are found. Obviously the buyer will want to be reimbursed for any timber he has paid for and, because of the presence of an endangered species, not be able to harvest." AFOA received two drafts from timber buyers -- one a paper company and the other a wood dealer. AFOA also received a call from attorney Neil C. Johnson who said he has had experience assisting forest owners with their timbersale contract problems, including Endangered Species Act protection. Neil's phone number is (334)694-6247. (9/14/98) WANTED TO LEASE FOR HUNTING: (8/20/98) BEETLE EPIDEMIC EXPANDS TO 35 COUNTIES. Alabama Forestry Commission Entomologist Jim Hyland reported that July Southern Pine Beetle detection flights showed 50 counties with infestations, 35 at epidemic levels. The ten worst counties are Pickens, Dallas, Bullock, Sumter, Macon, Covington, Lamar, Lowndes, Coffee, and Bibb. 75,726 trees are infested in 2,388 spots. (8/12/98) Tips For Hunting Leases, a University of Georgia Extension Service publication by Jeffrey J. Jackson, might prove useful to you if you lease or plan to lease hunting land. If you are still looking for someone to lease your land, be sure to include it in AFOA's list of Hunting Land Available. Paper copies are sent to thousands of hunters throughout the year as land is added and we regularly update the internet copy. Include (1) State, (2) County, (3) Number of Acres, (4) Price Per Acre, (5) Contact Person, (6) Phone Number, (7) Short Narrative about the land (about 10 - 15 words) and send to AFOA Hunting Land, Box 361434, Birmingham, AL 35236 or email to AFOA. (7/13/98) WANTED TO LEASE: 200 ACRES OR MORE within 150 miles of Shelby County. Call Marty Lawley at (205) 428-4512. (7/12/98) FORESTRY BOOKS OF INTEREST by forester Steve Nix includes a short review and link to Amazon.com. http://forestry.tqn.com/msubbook.htm (7/12/98) 1998-1999 ALABAMA HUNTING SEASONS POSTED. The Alabama hunting seasons and bag limits include increases in length of doe season. The Game & Fish Division Homepage is at http://www.dcnr.state.al.us/agfd and the Hunting Seasons are at http://www.dcnr.state.al.us/agfd/seasons9899.html. (7/6/98) WANTED TO LEASE: PICKENS COUNTY DEER & TURKEY HUNTING RIGHTS. Gene Gautro and a few friends are looking for 50 or more acres. If desired by the landowner, they will agree to bowhunt only. Gene's daytime phone number is (205) 980-0716. Evenings: 991-2400. (7/5/98) TALLAHASSEE SALAMANDER TRANSCRIPT READY TO READ. Ms. Linda LaClaire of the the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has given AFOA an ASCII file copy of the April 15, 1998 Flatwoods Salamander Tallahassee Public Hearing and offered to send us a paper copy of their copy of the Savannah Public Hearing for $13. Thank you, Ms. LaClaire! That sure beats the $117 we were originally quoted. Transcript of the Tallahassee Public Hearing. (7/1/98) 40 OR MORE HUNTING ACRES WANTED IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA. David Wood is looking for deer hunting land from Birmingham to the Georgia line in the central portion of the state. He will lease up to 300 acres, but is interested in areas as small as 40. Call him at (205)525-5308 or write: 373 Coosa Island Road, Cropwell, AL 35054. (7/1/98) SOUTHERN PINE BEETLES AT EPIDEMIC LEVELS IN 29 (mostly southern) COUNTIES. In his June 1998 Southern Pine Beetle Report, Jim Hyland, Entomologist for the Alabama Forestry Commission, said that June aerial detection flights showed 47 counties with SPB infestations, 29 of which were at epidemic levels. Beetle spots (groups of infested pine trees) "are averaging 31 trees and observers are seeing a number of 1-5 tree spots that..." had not been spotted in earlier detection flights. The ten worst counties are Macon, Bullock, Pike, Greene, Sumter, Russell, Choctaw, Lowndes, Pickens, and Dallas. For details about the location of SPB spots in your county, call the Forestry Commission office in your county. Map of Beetle Infested Counties. (6/19/98) FLATWOODS SALAMANDER PROPOSED FOR LISTING AS ENDANGERED SPECIES. The Flatwoods Salamander is found in pine flatwoods across the lower coastal plain and has 50 scattered populations in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. None have been seen in Alabama for 15 years although suitable habitat is common. If the salamander is listed as an Endangered Species and lives nearby, forest owners who want to thin or harvest timber during the salamander's half-year breeding and dispersal period or who want to prepare land for tree planting by methods such as bedding or disking may have to ask permission from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. For detailed technical information about the salamander, contact Ms. Linda LaClaire at (601)965-4340 or linda_laclaire@smtp2.irm.r9.fws.gov. (6/10/98) EPA TO MAKE PRESCRIBED BURNING AN "ENDANGERED TOOL!" Alabama State Forester Timothy C. Boyce wrote a very good letter to each of Alabama's nine Congressmen concerning EPA's new "Wildland Fire/Air Quality" Policy. Review the Letter and then return to write your own letter to Members of U.S. House of Representatives and Members of U.S. Senate. (6/3/98) HUNTER HUNTING LAND: Robert Rhodes would like to lease up to 500 acres in Greene County. Call him at (205)841-6462. (5/25/98) THE COMMON LAW: How It Protects the Environment (May 1998) by Roger E. Meiners & Bruce Yandle and edited by Jane Shaw. "Eventually, citizens will recognize that the common law, bolstered by local regulation, can protect the environment more effectively and fairly than can congressional statutes and bureaucratic regulations." Available online at The Political Economy Research Center. (5/21/98)WHO REPRESENTS THE FOREST OWNER?. The people we elect to hold political offices in our local, state, and federal governments will pass, interpret, or administer laws that will determine who will make the decisions for the management and disposal of private property. If you have recommendations as to why a particular candidate deserves the support of forest owners, please forward to AFOA email. We may publish a special web page with your recommendations in anticipation of the November general election. If you have suggestions as to how the web page should be organized, please help us. Thanks. (4/17/98)AFOA MEMBER HOLT SPEIR (whs@chlaw.com) WRITES: AFOA members might find
it more convenient to email their senators and representatives. The websites where members
can find these email addresses are: (4/14/98)TRESPASS BILL (H.294) NEEDS HELP. The bill will reverse an Alabama Supreme Court decision that requires landowners to provide the same duty of care to trespassers as is owed to invited guests. On April 10 the Alabama Forestry Association suggested that landowners call members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge them to approve H. 294. JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS OFFICE HOME Roger Bedford, Chairman (334)242-7870 (205)332-2880 Colbert, Franklin, Fayette, Lamar, Pickens, Winston, Marion John Amari, Vice Chairman (334)242-7874 (205)836-6266 Jefferson Steve Windom (334)242-7871 (334)434-0103 Mobile Charles Davidson (334)242-7876 (205)221-9400 Jefferson, Shelby, Walker, Winston, Tuscaloosa Sundra Escott-Russell (334)242-7879 (205)798-1600 Jefferson Charles Steele (334)242-7886 (205)759-5736 Tuscaloosa, Hale, Perry, Sumter, Marengo, Greene Charles Langford (334)242-7800 (334)269-2563 Montgomery Pat Lindsey (334)242-7843 (205)459-2478 Monroe, Escambia, Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Washington Albert Lipscomb (334)242-7897 (334)965-7871 Baldwin, Mobile Ted Little (334)242-7855 (334)887-3472 Tallapoosa, Lee, Russell Wendell Mitchell (334)242-7858 (334)335-3449 Autauga, Butler, Elmore, Crenshaw, Dale, Lowndes, Pike Hank Sanders (334)242-7860 (334)875-9264 Monroe, Wilcox, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Lowndes, Marengo Vivian Figures (334)242-7851 (334)432-0482 Mobile (4/13/98)MY FRIEND THE FORESTER is a coloring book produced by the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service and the Society of American Foresters that may be useful to forest owners who are planning to talk to a group of school children. The books are for sale from Syndistar at 1-800-841-9532. Ask for Tori. (3/18/98)A SHORT SEEDLING COUNT proved costly to an AFOA member this winter. He had purchased several hundred thousand seedlings and agreed to pay a planting crew "by-the-acre" based on a fixed planting spacing (A fixed cost per tree planted) and a tree count based on 1,000 trees per bundle. He began to suspect a problem when the "number of acres planted" was always higher than he had estimated. After counting all the trees in several bundles and finding most were 20 to 25 percent short, he questioned the nurseryman, who said the nursery had received other customer complaints on low tree counts. The nursery agreed to give him fifty-thousand more trees packed in bundles marked "1,000 trees", but which, upon counting, were short-counted, too. By then, of course, the damage had been done — the planters had been overpaid. The landowner bought several thousand more trees from other nurseries and did not find any large discrepancies in their tree counts. Two points: 1) Do not depend on bundle counts to pay planting costs. 2) Contact AFOA at (205)987-8811 or Send Email if you have experienced tree-count problems. We'll see if there is a common problem out there and maybe help you fix it. (7/25/98) Editor's Note: A consulting forester recently wrote AFOA to confirm that bundle count problems are common, but difficult for the nurseries to correct cost effectively. Sounds like a problem we should be aware of, but not count on any correction soon. (3/16/98)HORSE AND MULE LOGGERS are listed in a directory created by Professor Mark Dubois and Graduate Extension Assistant Chris Toms, Auburn University School of Forestry. If you know of any loggers to be added to the directory, please send address and phone number information to Chris Toms at (334)844-1053, (334)844-1084(fax), or toms@forestry.auburn.edu or Dr. Mark Dubois at (334)844-1037, (334)844-1084(fax), or dubois@forestry.auburn.edu. Both can be reached at the School of Forestry, Auburn University, Alabama 36849-5418. Also, please send additions and corrections to AFOA. Listing of a logger in the directory does not constitute an endorsement of the logger by Auburn University, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, or AFOA. COUNTY NAME TELEPHONE Blount Rick Riddle (205)681-4708 Chambers Roy Black (205)825-9763, (334)821-7229 Chambers Wayne Howard (334)864-9254 Clay Richard Rice (205)396-6131 Cleburne Bill Coefield (205)568-2809 Fayette James Otts (205)932-5417 Franklin Claudie Baggett (205)935-3783 Franklin T. O. Spears (205)993-5868 Jackson Tom Yonts (205)259-6138 Lamar Bobby Berry (205)695-9776 Lamar Roger Cunningham (205)662-4536 Lamar Richard Sandlin (205)698-9509 Lauderdale Elton Woods (205)767-0149 Lauderdale Enoch Kennedy (205)757-2685 Lauderdale Eric Cornelius (205)247-3823 Lee A. H. Smith (334)749-1002 Marion Eddie Cox (205)921-9970 Marion Johnny Paul Byrd (205)921-7117 Marion Presley Lawler (205)935-3356 Marion B. J. Lucas (205)465-2563 Morgan Jerry Mason (205)778-9728 Morgan Jimmy Morrow (205)883-7537 Randolph Benny Harmon (205)357-2492 St. Clair Jeremy Camborn (205)472-0756 St. Clair J. V. "Bud" Railey (205)472-2387 Talladega Stanley Blackburn (205)362-6258 Tuscaloosa Arlynn Gray (205)339-8287 Winston Joel Byars (205)747-1778 Winston Wallace Thomas (205)893-5881 Winston Wayne Posey (205)893-5320 (2/22/98)TO SAVE THE TIGER, CHANGE THE INCENTIVES. The tiger, which once ranged throughout Asia, faces extinction in the wild. The only way to save it is to provide incentives that make people who live near tigers want to conserve them, says Michael 't Sas-Rolfes in a new paper, Who Will Save the Wild Tiger? The 32 page paper is the latest in the PERC Policy Series of short papers edited by Jane S. Shaw. To order, call (406)587-9591 or visit PERC's Website. Cost $4. (2/9/98)CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM FAVORS LONGLEAF PINE. According to an article in The Longleaf Alliance Newsletter, 12/97, "special treatment is given to those whose plans include planting longleaf. Choosing to plant longleaf places landowners in a higher priority category, particularly if wildlife is also a consideration. ... In addition, longleaf CRP contracts can be for 15 years instead of the normal 10 year period." For details, check with the local Natural Resources Conservation Service office in your county. (2/5/98)A REDUCED FORESTLAND AD VALOREM TAX BASE might be the long term result of a growing movement to reduce weight limits on log trucks. Decreasing weight limits on log trucks will ultimately translate into lower timber prices which translates into lower forest land values. The Alabama Loggers Council wants to exempt log trucks from axle weight limits. If you want to be involved, Call Bill Jones at (334)265-8733. (2/5/98)TRESPASS BILL INTRODUCED IN MONTGOMERY. Representative Allen Sanderson introduced H. 294 which, according to the Alabama Forestry Association Forestry Legislative Report, 1/30/98, "makes it clear that property owners are not liable for injuries to trespassers." A companion bill in the Senate is S. 312. Call Boyd Kelley at AFA for details: (334)265-8733. (1/14/98)LOBLOLLY PINE TREE SEEDLINGS AVAILABLE. We heard today that U. S. Alliance, (205)672-2355, and the Alabama Forestry Commission, (334)368-4854, have bare root loblolly pine seedlings available. It's close to the end of planting season and nurseries are starting to receive cancellations. Check all the nurseries; many will have a few seedlings available. (1/14/98)HUNTER HUNTING LAND in Bibb, Perry, Dallas or nearby counties. If you have 200 or more acres of good hunting land, Shawn Callahan and his three hunting friends would like to lease it from you. Call him at (205)620-9193. Archived News, Issues & Information from 1997 |
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