IS IT TIME TO RE-CERTIFY YOUR LAND?

Tree Growth – also known as the Maine Tree Growth Tax Program – is Maine’s current use tax program for productive forestland. The program is administered in organized municipalities by town assessors and in the unorganized territories by Maine Revenue Service’s Property Tax Division. “Current use” means that enrolled land is valued according to its ability to grow trees for commercial use, rather than according to its fair market value. This often results in a significantly reduced property tax bill for enrolled landowners.

Tree Growth can be a beneficial program for landowners who manage their land sustainably for commercial forest products. In exchange for generally lower property valuations, landowners commit to following a written Forest Management Plan prepared by a Maine licensed forester. A licensed forester must also certify that landowners are following their plan.

Landowners are required to submit a signed Tree Growth Application and a supporting map to the assessing agent. The details of the forest management plan belong to the landowner and are not public information, although the Assessor may request a copy of the plan and hold it for a reasonable period of time for review.

The Maine Forest Service (MFS) provides assistance and education about the Tree Growth Tax Program, and forest management and planning in general, but does not administer the Tree Growth Tax program.

Landowners should be aware of some very important requirements:

1) Land enrolled in Tree Growth must be recertified every ten years. Written management plans must be updated at least once in a ten year period.

Could this be your year to update your plan and recertify?

2) In addition, when Tree Growth land is purchased, inherited, or otherwise acquired, new landowners must re-enroll within one year of the date of transfer. New landowners may not harvest timber until they have had a new forest management plan prepared or adopted a previous but still valid plan, and re-enrolled.

Have you acquired or inherited forest land recently?

Why is this important?

Because Tree Growth forest land that no longer complies with the program – including failure to recertify or to re-enroll on time– must be withdrawn from the program, with potentially significant monetary penalties to the landowner. Withdrawal can occur even if you were not the owner at the time the land was first enrolled, because Tree Growth status “runs with the land” – the parcel remains enrolled, even if it changes hands.

NOTE: The assessing agent is required to provide a sixty-day notification before withdrawing a parcel from Tree Growth if the sole reason for withdrawal is failure to file recertification paper work in a timely manner. The sixty days is not intended to start the process of hiring a consulting forester to complete the necessary work involved in updating a forest management plan. So the message here is, be proactive!

What should you do?

If you have not tracked your forest management activities consistently over the years, you can avoid significant cost and aggravation by taking a few simple steps now:

Ø      First, determine if your land is enrolled in Tree Growth (if you’re not sure).

Ø      If yes, locate the Forest Management Plan and, if available, a copy of the most recent Tree Growth Application that was submitted. (Other property tax records are helpful.)

Ø      Determine when your re-enrollment or re-certification is due.

Ø      Contact your consulting forester about the recommendations in your plan. Even if you are not due for recertification, it may be a good time to update your plan.

April 1^st Tree Growth Deadline – new enrollments for 2012

If you are considering enrolling forest land in Tree Growth for the first time, the deadline for the 2012 property tax year for submitting the Tree Growth Application to your local assessor (or Maine Revenue Service’s Property Tax Division, if your land is in an unorganized township) is April 1^st, 2012. Information submitted after that date may not be considered until the 2013 tax year.

With your application, you must submit a map of the parcel identifying the acres you are enrolling.

In practice that means that landowners should contact a consulting forester well in advance of the April 1^st deadline for assistance in preparing a plan and submitting the documentation to the town. Due to their typical workloads, foresters may not be able to assist landowners who wait until the final weeks before the deadline.

If you need help contacting a licensed forester, or have questions about Tree Growth, the Maine Forest Service will assist or refer you to the Maine Revenue Services (which oversees the program). Please call your MFS District Forester or MFS Augusta at 1-800-367-0223.

Jim Geisinger – Chair, ALC Legislative Committee

Members of the American Loggers Council joined with several like-minded organizations in 2011 in an effort to amend the Clean Water Act to permanently exempt silvicutural operations, including the use of forest roads for transporting unrefined forest products from onerous National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements.  In what can only be described as a temporary fix to the issue, members of Congress inserted language in the Omnibus Appropriations bill, H.R. 2055, which would prohibit the EPA from using any of its funding in 2012 to enforce the NPDES permitting system on silvicultural activities; however, the language contained in the appropriations bill is scheduled to expire in September of 2012.  We have won the battle, but we have yet to win the war.

While the American Loggers Council thanks members of Congress for recognizing the severity of the issue and all of those who signed on to the Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act in both the House and the Senate, the final language found in H.R. 2055 does not permanently fix the problem.  As a matter of fact, the compromise that was negotiated in the language only served to kick the can further down the road for all of us in the forestry community.  We now have until the end of September, 2012 to find a permanent solution to the problem before the EPA may once again begin enforcing the regulation that was brought on by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which overturned a 35 year practice by the EPA of exempting silvicultural activities from NPDES permits.

The American Loggers Council will continue to work with members of Congress to permanently address this issue, and during the course of our activities, we will be asking the logging and forestry community to step up their efforts by contacting their respective Congressional representatives to help educate them on the impacts that requiring NPDES permits could have on the small businesses and family forest landowners who depend on sustainably managing our nation’s forests for their livelihood .

Given the fact that 2012 is an election year, it will take no less than a Herculean effort to pass a bill that could be lost in the political minefield over the next nine months, and we are asking that you become engaged in the debates that are certain to take place.  Your Congressmen, Congresswomen and Senators will be looking for support in 2012, and you have a golden opportunity to ask that they support a common sense issue that can save jobs and help our economy.  There was tremendous bipartisan support in 2011 for the Silviculture Regulatory Consistency Act in both the House and the Senate.   Let’s not let politics in 2012 get in the way of passing a bill that will be a permanent fix to an issue that both sides of the aisle have already acknowledged.  We believe that it will take all of us working together, to get the job done, and that is how we see it.

Jim Geisinger is the Executive Director for the Associated Oregon Loggers located in Salem Oregon and serves as the Chair of the American Loggers Council Legislative Committee.

The American Loggers Council is a non-profit 501(c)(6) corporation representing professional timber harvesters in 30 states across the US.  For more information, visit their web site at www.americanloggers.org or contact their office at 409-625-0206.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced a final rule that employs the latest research in driver fatigue to make sure truck drivers can get the rest they need to operate safely when on the road.  The new rule by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) revises the hours-of-service (HOS) safety requirements for commercial truck drivers.

“Trucking is a difficult job, and a big rig can be deadly when a driver is tired and overworked,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “This final rule will help prevent fatigue-related truck crashes and save lives. Truck drivers deserve a work environment that allows them to perform their jobs safely.”

As part of the HOS rulemaking process, FMCSA held six public listening sessions across the country and encouraged safety advocates, drivers, truck company owners, law enforcement and the public to share their input on HOS requirements. The listening sessions were live webcast on the FMCSA Web site, allowing a broad cross-section of individuals to participate in the development of this safety-critical rule.

“This final rule is the culmination of the most extensive and transparent public outreach effort in our agency’s history,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro.  “With robust input from all areas of the trucking community, coupled with the latest scientific research, we carefully crafted a rule acknowledging that when truckers are rested, alert and focused on safety, it makes our roadways safer.”

FMCSA’s new HOS final rule reduces by 12 hours the maximum number of hours a truck driver can work within a week. Under the old rule, truck drivers could work on average up to 82 hours within a seven-day period. The new HOS final rule limits a driver’s work week to 70 hours.

In addition, truck drivers cannot drive after working eight hours without first taking a break of at least 30 minutes. Drivers can take the 30-minute break whenever they need rest during the eight-hour window.

The final rule retains the current 11-hour daily driving limit.  FMCSA will continue to conduct data analysis and research to further examine any risks associated with the 11 hours of driving time.

The rule requires truck drivers who maximize their weekly work hours to take at least two nights’ rest when their 24-hour body clock demands sleep the most – from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. This rest requirement is part of the rule’s “34-hour restart” provision that allows drivers to restart the clock on their work week by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty. The final rule allows drivers to use the restart provision only once during a seven-day period

Companies and drivers that commit egregious violations of the rule could face the maximum penalties for each offense. Trucking companies that allow drivers to exceed the 11-hour driving limit by 3 or more hours could be fined $11,000 per offense, and the drivers themselves could face civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense.

Commercial truck drivers and companies must comply with the HOS final rule by July 1, 2013. The rule is being sent to the Federal Register today and is currently available on FMCSA’s Web site at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/HOSFinalRule.

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Starting January, 12, 2012, the Qualified Logging Professional Program will start the next QLP course. This course is a Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) 30 hr. approved course for safe and sustainable wood harvesting practices. The course will be held at   So. Aroostook Community Schools (SACS), Dyer Brook, Maine.

Classes will meet January 12, February 9, March 8, and April 12, 2012. The January 12^th class starts at 5 PM, and will include an Introduction to SFI & CLP, Forest Practices Act (FPA), and Contracting. Speakers will be Pat Sirois from SFI, Dan Jacobs from the Maine Forest Service, and Marc Pinette from LP.

Participants must attend all of the classes to earn QLP certification & final classes during Spring Breakup. There are a total of 30 hours classes, plus the Field Interview. A lunch will be provided at the first class and at other classes that start at 5 p.m.

Additional topics at future classes will include Wildlife Habitat, Forest Mapping, Personal Protective Equipment, Water Quality, Transportation Safety, CPR/First Aid, etc.

Cost:    $150 to cover the cost of the Field Interview —  $150 is due at the February class.

To Register: Call Otis Smith at 521-3100 x5.

By Nick Sambides Jr.

EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Exactly a week after he said that Great Northern Paper Co. LLC didn’t regard Roxanne Quimby’s proposed 70,000-acre national park a threat to his industry, Peter Hanson is no longer GNP’s president, company officials announced Tuesday.

Read the full story in the Bangor Daily News

Read the December 2011 PLC Logger’s Voice here

and

Read the December 2011 PLC Logger’s Voice Insert here

The LURC Study Commission has released final report & recommendations.

CLICK HERE to read the report

Foex has just done their weekly update on Pulp & Paper Prices in the USA

Review the latest numbers anytime on www.foex.fi

Organization takes steps with industry partners to provide user friendly design and content

Hemphill, Texas (December 12, 2011) - Today, the American Loggers Council (ALC) unveiled a newly redesigned website.   Americanloggers.org provides news and resources to better support the mission of the ALC to serve as a unified voice for professional loggers and to communicate with the public and policy makers on the issues that are of critical importance to the nation’s loggers.  The new site contains easily accessible multimedia, contact information and advocacy resources, making it the go to place for loggers to obtain the latest in information and news on national issues.

“We believe that we now have one of the premier sites in the industry to better serve those that we represent,” said Danny Dructor, executive vice president, American Loggers Council.  “We worked hand in hand with our friends at John Deere and its creative teams to develop a site that is user- friendly and easier to navigate.  Financial support from both Caterpillar Forest Products and Bandit Industries also helped to provide the necessary funds to get the site up and running.”

“The on-the-ground, real-life video found on the site will help to put a face on the nation’s loggers and one that the public needs to see to better understand our industry,” Dructor went on to say.  “For the most part, we are still considered an invisible industry as most of our operations are far away from the public’s view.  One goal of the site is to bring the logger to the public so that they will have a better understanding of the professionalism of the industry.”  There will be regular updates to the site, keeping the content current with current issues.

ALC President Steve Sherich commented that “the site is but one phase of the organizational work that is being done by the ALC to establish its identity with the loggers and the public,” and that “other programs are in the works, including building stronger communications and networking between our members and our sponsors.”  “We are proud of the partnerships that have evolved over the past 17 years with all of our sponsors, but my hat’s off to John Deere for their creative efforts on this project and to Caterpillar and Bandit for helping to make the website a reality.”

The American Loggers Council is a 501(c)(6) organization representing timber harvesting professionals in 30 states.  For more information contact the American Loggers Council Office at 409-625-0206 or visit their website at www.americanloggers.org.