Public Inputs on Preliminary Question SOCIO-1303

assessment of sustainability of our forests

Southern Forest Resource Assessment

Below is the original wording of one of the preliminary questions and public suggestions or concerns submitted about it--for details see our Public Input or Methods pages

"How do current policies, regulations, and laws (for example, Best Management Practices) affect forest resources and their management?"

We also strongly encourage you to look at the effectiveness of existing policy for ensuring ecological sustainability.
Present laws act as an incentive to overcut ad to turn forest land into range land because range land can be called agriculture land and get the greater agricultural tax exemption. The FS ignores the ESA to log and burn riparian areas, hiking trails, log scenic areas, ignore the need for old growth areas, destroy the diversity of the forest. This committee must look at the lawsuits filed and won by conservationists and individuals against the FS for illegally logging and destroying the natural beauty of our NF. Public and private lands, both are overcut.
An analysis of the need for zoning regulations in rural as well as suburban and urban areas.
Analysis of the need for a system requiring timber companies to report to state environmental agencies when they will be cutting a specific area and where these cuts will occur.
Monitor efficacy of regional planning/management efforts.
Tax incentives should be reallocated from the timber industry to recycling.
What laws and rulings allow the IRS and other governmental agencies to give tax deductions and fast write off of investment expenses for conservation issues. What are these allowances achieving? Who should review these laws and rulings?
Our laws do not adequately protect private forests from damaging exploitation.
We should be asking if current laws are effective or stringent enough to maintain sustainable forests, or if enforcement of those laws in adequate. Furthermore, what new laws are necessary to restore forests to assure they are sustainable ecosystems?
Study should also identify the negative effects that estate and property taxes exert on landowners to move land out of forestry and into higher valued uses. Forest landowners and managers need a predictable regulatory, as well as investment climate in order to make long-term forestry investments. The Southern Assessment should assess the benefits and costs of the various federal and state laws and regulations in promoting the sustainable forest management of the South's forests.
It will be essential for the study both to describe and to evaluate existing statutory and regulatory forest requirements with regard to forest practices in the various states. These laws need to be evaluated as written and as actually applied in the field in terms of their efficacy in protecting the environment from adverse consequences of timber harvesting and related management practices. Do states have mandatory buffers between harvest areas and surface waters, wetlands and other important aquatic resources? Do states prohibit the draining of wetlands for forestry activities? Are there any limits on the size of openings created by harvesting in various ecosystem types? Is there any requirement of advance notice of harvest activities to the state agency in order to allow for monitoring and, when necessary , enforcement? The study should clearly inform its future readers of the answers to such basic questions as these. Equally important is the assessment of the actual implementation of any such requirement which will necessarily entail an assessment of enforcement activities by state agencies, adequacy of funding for enforcement, rates of violations, and frequency of administrative or in-court pursuit of penalties or injunctive relief for those who violate requirement. Finally, putting all of this information about the regulation of forestry in our region in some context by comparing it to state forest practices acts in other parts of the country would be extremely useful.
Most of the states do not have even minimum forest practice laws to require regeneration, spading of clearcuts, protecting streams, etc. Louisiana does not have a forestry registration law. This is needed to provide NIPF owners with accurate data.
What laws are needed similarly to protect private forested lands?
What policies need to exist that mandate regional watershed protection? Smaller local counties lack the funds and incentive to adequately provide such protection.
We suggest that the proposed sustainability study address the potential for forest planning on a landscape/regional basis by a consortium of Federal, state, industrial, and private forest landowners. We believe this approach is integral to the sustained production of fish and wildlife resources dependent on a landscape mosaic of diverse forest types. Fish & Wildlife Service's ecosystem team approach, for example, could serve as a model for a regional forest consortium.
Consider the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as it applies to private forest lands.
Seed to reduce over-consumption and waste of forest products, while promoting equity in public access to consumption. Reform state and national policies, and international agreements, such that sustainable forest management is promoted, and unsustainable forest management is discouraged.
How do current policies, regulations, and laws (for example, Best Management Practices) affect forest resources and their management, and how effective have they been, or might they be, at promoting the ecological sustainability of forests?
What constitutes equitable forest taxation in the south, and the impact of taxation on forest management and resources?
Negative effects of estate and property taxes on landowners should also be included in the study.
The study should also identify the negative effects that estate and property taxes exert on landowners to move land out of forestry and into higher valued uses.
Federal, state and local policies and incentives that promote sustainable forest management as well as conserve existing forestland incentives that promote sustainable forest management as well as conserve existing forestland should be described and reviewed for efficacy. Federal and state governments have developed a number of programs to encourage landowners to establish forestland and create habitat (e.g., FIP, WHIP, CRP). Some non-government agencies, such as The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited and the National Wild Turkey Federation have developed programs to assist landowners in the creation of wildlife habitat. The Assessment should investigate these programs and report their results.
Tax incentives could provide a powerful incentive to promote responsible forest management. Current estate tax law is an excellent example of how government taxation can lead to forced land sale and forest fragmentation. How have or could tax incentives for forest management contribute to forest health and productivity in southern forests?
In many areas of the south, forest industry, government agencies and universities have combined forces to tackle forest protection issues such as incident command for fire fighting, insect and disease control and exotic pest studies. The Assessment should look at and report these types of efforts and look for additional issues that may offer chances to improve future forest health and protection.
Assess the various federal and state laws and regulations, focusing on costs and benefits. Document the effects the Endangered Species Act has on public and private land owners.
Government policies such as estate taxes and other state and local taxes are known to have an adverse effect on the forest management of private lands. Clear cutting and fragmentation are just two of the most obvious effects. Forest landowners and managers need a predictable regulatory, well as a positive investment climate, in order to make the long-term investments required to grow a healthy, productive forest. There may be others. The effect of government policies on the condition of the forest should be examined thoroughly.
I don't know why the federal government has to study this issue. I will be very unhappy about any type regulation on my use of my family's own land as it relates to the use of the forest.
What impact has the generational transfer of forest resources had on management? Is there an increase in liquidation of forest resources through estates?
Include national, state and/or local?
Address the following topics: the use of taxpayers' monies to support and promote the chip mill industry e.g. road construction; the taxpayer's monies to provide large tax incentive packages for timber corporations and businesses.
Address the use of a state by state land management plan that will protect residential and rural residential communities. Address the use of the "industry model" which prompts the chip mill business to locate in a given area. Some items that should be included in this "model" would be: 1) an economically distressed area, 2) an average salary base of $16,000 per year, 3) a low voter registration rate, 4) a high illiteracy rate, and finally 5) a lack of any zoning regulations or laws.
The use of a database to require timber companies who promote chip mills, other facilities using wood chips, and industrial clearcutting to report to each state environmental agency when they will be clearcutting a specific area and where these cuts will occur.
Bringing some enforceable guidelines to bear on the timber cutting industry in the form of better management practices could really pay off in the long run. Cutters seem to be bent on large fast harvest with no regard for the top soil, streams, habitat, recreation, roads or the tourist trade. Little is ever said about where our Grandchildren will be able to see a 50 or 100 year old tree in the future.
Second, the team should identify current federal, state and local policies, laws, and regulations relating to forest management and evaluate how they influence (positively or negatively) landowners' land use decisions. This examination should not be limited to environmental requirement, but tax, property and estate laws as well. This should also include an analysis of whether and how well government agencies monitor compliance with these various legal requirements. The study should also identify a menu of additional laws and policies (mandatory, voluntary, and incentive-based) that require and/or encourage landowners to maintain their lands in forest cover and that promote sustainability of forests at the local, state and regional levels.
Given the predicted increase in demand for forest products in the future, are current forest management practices and regulations adequate to protect RTE species and the biodiversity of the region?
The lack of laws and regulations in the realm of forestry is having a negative effect on our forest resources. Voluntary Best Management Practices with no enforcement is not protecting our forest land and associated streams. (I am speaking of TN, although I think it is pretty much the same situation in all southern states). With the Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture, there is little hope for seeing our forests as habitat instead of commodity.
Written policy does not appear to be reflected in practice. Conservation is subservient to industrial dollars. The primary goal of governmental forestry managers is to ""get the cut""--conservation and wildlife be damned.
Forest landowners and managers need a predictable regulatory, as well as investment climate in order to make long-term forestry investments. The Southern Assessment should assess the benefits and costs of the various federal and state laws and regulations in promoting the sustainable forest management of the South's forests.
If we place handicaps and onerous regulations in the path of responsible forestry companies, then we have simply made it impossible for small tree farmers and more of the privately owned, smaller tree farms will be eventually owned by major companies. In my view this is not in the best interest of the American Farm community and the environment.
I would like to encourage the study to ask for stringent restrictions and oversight of the permitting process for mills.
What drives demand for forest products that makes landowners manage land specifically for economic revenue?
Forests on public lands are not protected. It angers many of us that our tax dollars are used to enable private companies to destroy our ecosystems, our biodiversity, and the livelihood of people in my industry [ecotourism].
Why is it that recycled paper and cardboard are nest to worthless? Why is it that it's cheaper for industry to make new paper from trees than to reuse the old? We've got to shift the incentives and regulations, including the permitting process, to reflect the real costs to society and the environment. What are the real costs of losing our forests, of replacing clean water after it's gone, etc.? The big picture, the whole economic picture must be examined.
We need an adequate Forest Protection Policy in place before the trees are gone.
Rules for loggers that are enforceable. Not just a book suggesting good practices that they can throw out the window of the log truck with no recourse available for the Forester who just handed them the book. Let's make it a rule book that he can rule with the Federal study we have this within reach.
How can you restore species to their rightful habitat and how can Landowners be persuaded to do the same on private land?
NEPA, the CWA, ESA and other laws demand that federal agencies address the reasonably foreseeable cumulative, offsite and regional impacts of all industries permitted by these laws. Why are the agencies not upholding the purpose and intent of these laws and halting nonsustainable, negative environmental/economic impacts before they occur?
The lack of laws and regulations in the realm of forestry is having a negative effect on our forest resources. Voluntary Best Management Practices with no enforcement is not protecting our forest land and associated streams. (I am speaking of TN, although I think it is pretty much the same situation in all southern states). With the Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture, there is little hope for seeing our forests as habitat instead of commodity.
Taxpayers should NOT be subsidizing corporate extractors on public lands! Roads and other infrastructure on federal and state lands should not be put in place to assist resourse extraction. Furthermore, given the shrinking wildlife habitat in the south and the decline in forest health, resourse extraction on public lands should be eliminated and programs to improve forest health and wildlife habitat should be advanced.
Issue of private property rights, impacts of various regulations on this.
Evaluate implications of "zero cut" on public land
Uniformity of the policies, regulations across the South. How this affects public�s ability to understand them.
Successes of non-regulatory incentives at restoration, e.g., wild turkey, bluebird, deer, black bear.
Do policies et al. provide incentive or disincentive to practice forestry?
Assess and compare costs and benefits of regulations vs. incentives for sustainable forest management.
Address effects of tax incentives and state cost share progress.
How have Federal subsidies to local government encouraged urban sprawl?
Consider the impact of economic incentives.
Identify current regulations policies and laws by state and local governments affecting forest management decisions, tax, etc.
Use of taxpayers� money to provide tax incentives, subsidies to forest corporations and industries.
Look at effects of cost share programs to encourage replanting after harvesting. Potential for greater growth/productivity from more intensive management rather than extensive.
Estate taxes and influence on conversion to non-forest�agriculture or development.
What changes are needed to maintain forest land base (tax laws)?
Income, estate, and property tax (federal and state) their effects.
Consider full effects of tax breaks, direct and indirect subsidies to forest land, mill facilities, roads, etc.
Effects of tax policies on landowner management decisions.
ID disincentives to maintain forest cover, e.g., complicated tax and estate-planning laws.
Tax incentives for non-forest corps to convert lands out of forest.
Examine which tax policies encourage reforestation and those that discourage reforestation.
�I�m a private individual landowner. Question [SOCIO] 3 is most important! Look at how tax laws prevent you from replanting timber or conserving it environmentally! Look at how regulations have prevented private owners from properly caring for their land! Look specifically at how ESA is unscientifically based. Have owned land 40 years. Signed up for land stewardship program. It educates, not regulates!�
Should include local regulations e.g., tree ordinances; zoning and its effect on conversion.
Identify current policies by state and local governments that affect forest management.
Assess role of industry�s tech assistance to private landowners.
What can government and private sector do to encourage forest management?
What are the private forest landowners� management objectives?
Recognizing role of TIMO�s (investment).
Evaluate purpose of strong markets to encourage landowners to practical forestry.
Role of landowner assistance � industry and state forestry landowner assistance programs.
Consider the role of incentives in management decisions.
What incentives are successful at keeping forestry viable for the small private landowner?
Since forestry to long-term process, how do estate taxes and increased government regulation affect landowner objectives and motivations to keep land in large blocks?
Look at how tax laws affect forest management? Ownerships?
�Economics, economics, and economics are how most people think that landowners are motivated but this is not entirely true. Family and taxation probably play more of an important part than most would realize. Trying to develop laws, or one-size fits all management plan, would be a great mistake. With over 20% of the land east of I-95 in North Carolina owned by large corporate wood product companies it will be difficult to persuade them into any management plan that doesn�t produce the ever increasing bottom line.�
Affect of tax structural cost share on forest management.
How do current taxes and increased regulations influence landowner objectives and motivations, keeping land in large blocks?
Zoning and taxation issues in rural area.
Examine how much timber land or land has to be broken up as result of inheritance taxes.
Examine methods to sustain forest thru regulations and taxes.
Zoning and taxation issues in rural areas.
Look at effects of tax policies on land use.
Do harvest landowners (others) understand P/R/L and their costs, effects?
Look at impact on the kind of management and forest types.
Address concerns re: uncertainty, policies.
Examine frequency of policy proliferations and justification for it.
Use of taxpayer money to provide tax incentive package for forest corporations.
Effects of cost share programs on regeneration -compare intensive vs. extensive management.
Consider the impacts of burdensome laws and unpredictable regulations on forest management. (Needs for predictable/stable reg. environment)
Federal regulations and requirements putting increased pressures on Forest Service management while funding cuts have reduced staffing.
Address how laws restrict landowners and are landowners aware of laws. (Inconsistency too, also uncertainty of law.)
How does threat of laws affect landowners.
Include other laws/policies labor, safety, transportation, (don�t limit to environmental regulations).
Impact of foundations on forest management activities.
Consider the influence of 501C3 on forest policies.
See if laws/regulations effective. What are economic returns? Of counties that have strict regulations, how much encouragement is given to landowners to get proper management, or does it cause landowners to move out? Sell?
Concerned that majority of laws affecting forestry have little scientific support and it�s causing managers to revert in management of private landowners property.
We need to project future impacts of current regulations on sustainability of forestry.
We need to project future impacts of current regulations on sustainability of forestry. Consider the effects of voluntary programs (cons. use/pref. treatment � ad valorem). (Incorporate this in statement of question.)
What policies would prevent forest land from changing use?
Contrast current compliance levels between regulatory and voluntary programs.
Examine cost-effectiveness of these.
Consider effects of mining and other non-forest policies, laws, etc., on forests
If you regulate forestry, you should regulate other things, such as landfills. You have to recycle.
Evaluate social ecosystem costs and benefits. Use physiographic regions.

Question as revised in response to these comments
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modified: 1-MAR-2000
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