Dear PFA Members and Friends:

In October, the association management company that provides services to PFA, Versant Strategies, announced that it would no longer be able to provide these services after the March 2022 Conservation Banquet.

PFA President Randy White has established an Association Management Company (AMC)/Association Manager (AM) Search Task Group to find a new company or individual to provide such services for PFA. PFA members Richard Lewis and Ken Manno were appointed to serve as co-chairs of this Task Group. The following PFA members were also appointed: Dave Jackson, Randy White, Mark Ott, Linda Finley, Wayne Bender, Rachel Reyna, and Matt Sampson.

The Task Group has developed a comprehensive Request for Proposals (RFP) as well as a one-page listing of Desired Association Management Services for PFA. Copies of both documents are linked in this article.

The Request for Proposals has been circulated to a few association management companies and potential association managers. Your help is needed to further share the information with any company, firm, or individual who you feel can provide the services described in the RFP.

The deadline for proposals is January 16, 2022. Submissions should be sent electronically to Richard Lewis ([email protected]) and Ken Manno ([email protected]). Questions should also be directed to both Ken and Richard.

The PFA AMC/AM Search Task Group plans to review all the proposals received, narrow the field to 2–3 finalists, conduct interviews, and make a recommendation to the PFA Executive Committee and Board in February 2022.

With best wishes,

Richard Lewis and Ken Manno

Co-Chairs PFA AMC/AM Search Task Group

Due to President Randy White having surgery the day after his wife had a surgery, I am taking on one more News You Can Use President’s message. 

November brought the excitement of the start of the holiday season along with the annual rifle deer season. My turkey dressing with hickory nuts and pecans along with 6 types of wild mushrooms turned out great. The hickories were a bear to shell in the quantity I wanted so I added pecans to round out that aspect of the dish. We have a pair of pecan trees growing on the property from seedlings we brought up from the family farm in Montgomery County years ago. The original farm trees provided a large amount of nuts each year, but our trees here have a long way to go before I expect to see any nuts. However, the fact that they exist here allowed me to add commercial pecans to the dressing. The rest of the meal was wonderful, and that comes from those who enjoyed it, not just bragging from the chef. 

Right after Thanksgiving I was joined by my brother Eric and nephew Ryan along with granddaughter Krystaleigh for the annual attempt to bring the deer herd to numbers commensurate with the habitat. Five of our Amish friends came out recently to stir things up and bagged two does. Krystaleigh is great at spotting deer but has yet to get a good shot to take. She is very patient and careful as she learns the ins and outs of deer hunting. She joined me on a good hike in the second day snow to stir things up for the others, ticks be darned. She did not get any ticks on her. She spotted a doe sneaking back behind us going towards our recently vacated stand. Much later, when we still hunted our way back to the stand, she spotted five more resting on the hill past the stand. Grandpa got one of those along with two more the next day when school started back up. The rest of the family saw several deer but had no shots. With other hunters on the property and immediately adjacent we know that fourteen deer have been removed. After last season there were over thirty deer at the adjacent neighbor’s feed site. Considering a new crop of fawns, those fourteen harvests are not going to make much of a dent in the herd. The season is not over upon my writing, but it is winding down. The woods show a lot of evidence of over browsing including large patches of greenbrier browsed down to short stalks.

The leaves have dropped except those on certain red oaks, the beech trees, and the Amur honeysuckle. I found quite a bit of barberry and have a good sense of where my invasive plant control will need to concentrate. Japanese stiltgrass is abundant along the forest roads and in our creek bottom. We are looking at a UTV mounted sprayer to try and address that problem over the long term. Most of the other invasives will require hiking with a backpack sprayer. It is encouraging to still find sections of the forest with apparently no invasives, however they are still there, just in smaller numbers and types. The clock is ticking, and we are committed to acting on this problem for years to come, if not the rest of our lives. It is an unfortunate problem that forest landowners all need to deal with taking away time and resources from other management practices. One of the last bright fall colors was the larch we have planted behind our house. Earlier in the fall it was green against a predominantly yellow forest background. That changed near mid-month when the larch was a beautiful yellow against a brown forest background. Fall continues with colors for quite awhile if you just keep watching. 

The birds have shifted from the summer populations to the winter neighbors. Pileated woodpeckers, coopers hawks, ravens and crows were frequently sited during deer hunting. Krystaleigh and I spotted a brown creeper on a nearby tree, only the third time I’ve seen one as they are so well blended with the trees. The feeders show plenty of nuthatches and titmice but seemingly less chickadees. The cardinals, hairy and downy woodpeckers, red breasted nuthatches goldfinches, juncos, mourning doves and several sparrow species are regular visitors. The most prevalent calls in the forest are the pileated woodpeckers monkey call and the “yank” of the nuthatches. David has two more successful ponds now established below his house giving us three good pools for our aquatic wildlife to enjoy. He has spent time building up the edges and tamping down seepage areas with great success. We are excited to see what life comes to the increasing number of opportunities we are working to provide. He reports that many birds are enjoying a few exposed rocks he has placed in the pools, using them to get a drink. We are looking forward to a great winter of birdwatching and adding our counts to the annual feeder watch.

The Pennsylvania Forestry Association is settling in the new officers and held a December Board meeting. The next looming events are the PA Farm Show where we have a booth near the Hardwood Development Council’s Woodmobile and display. Also joining us in that area are the American Chestnut Foundation and PSU Forestry Extension. Volunteers are always welcome to help staff the booth and answer questions. I have found it fascinating to talk with others that have woodlands and those that do not. I answer what I can and direct the person to others who can answer if I cannot. They answers are pretty much all to be had in that one area of the Main Hall. Be sure to stop by and say hello to whoever is staffing the booth while you are there.

Also, of note and worth repeating each time I report on the PFA is the Annual Conservation Dinner being held at the Ramada Inn in State College on March 5, 2022. Tickets are $100 each and only 350 are sold. In a reverse drawdown, the last ten tickets drawn are awarded prizes with the final ticket left winning $10,000. At 350:1 odds, your chances are far better than any state sponsored drawing. All tickets have sold out the past three years so be sure to get yours early. Reach out to the PFA office at [email protected] to order your ticket.

Be safe,

Mark Ott

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Society of American Foresters recently named David Jackson, a forest resources educator with Penn State Extension, as a 2021 Presidential Field Forester Award recipient. He will be recognized at the virtual SAF National Convention, Nov. 3-6.

Jackson, who is based in Centre County, is one of 11 foresters in the nation honored with the award. The annual award, which recognizes one member from each society voting district, celebrates foresters who have dedicated their professional careers to the application of forestry on the ground using sound, scientific methods and adaptive management strategies. To earn the award, individuals must display uncommon talent, skill and innovative methods and have an excellent record in the application of forest management.

“I was shocked,” Jackson said of receiving the award. “It places me with some pretty distinct company, other field foresters that I respect and have tried to emulate. It makes all the hard work in the field worth it, knowing others recognize it.”

An extension educator since 2002, Jackson teaches programs on forest management to private forest landowners, industry foresters, youth and natural resource professionals. He was nominated for the award by Sanford Smith, a teaching professor of forest resources with the College of Agricultural Sciences and a natural resources and youth extension specialist.

“While much of Dave’s work involves teaching others the ‘what and why’ of management, he often does this by demonstrating ‘how-to,’ using classroom sessions, hands-on programs, webinars and short videos,” said Smith, who also serves as interim director of The Arboretum at Penn State.

Part of that “how-to” involves managing University forestland as a demonstration site, which Jackson has done for several years. According to Smith, this role keeps Jackson up to date on many field topics such as forest tending, wildlife best management practices, invasive plant control, forest regeneration, and insect and disease management.

Jackson earned his bachelor of science degree in forest resource management and forest biology from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 1988.

After college, Jackson worked various seasonal positions with the U.S. Forest Service in Montana, Vermont and Pennsylvania. He spent a year working for the University of Kentucky on its teaching and research forest before joining the Virginia Department of Forestry in 1992. There, he spent eight years as a service forester.

In 2000, Jackson took a position with Forecon Inc., a private consulting firm in New York. As a field forester, he managed lands in the eastern Catskill Mountains.

“The depth and diversity of his experience in field forestry have been a great asset to our organization,” said Smith. “His contributions are outstanding and ongoing.”

In 2007, while employed at Penn State, Jackson earned a master’s degree in forest resources from the University. His graduate work focused on creating educational materials about the use of herbicides in managing forest vegetation.

“Dave’s reputation as a field forester who practices what he teaches — and knows what he is talking about — is widespread in Pennsylvania and neighboring states among his program clients and forestry and extension peers,” said Smith. “I have been told by many how highly they respect him, and the clients always say they attend his programs because what they learn is immediately useful and valuable.”

LAST UPDATED NOVEMBER 04, 2021

I recently answered a letter from a longtime Pennsylvania Tree Farm member who inquired about the benefits of remaining in the program and keeping his forestland intact as a forest. He specifically was interested any tax advantages to justify his ongoing commitment. In answering, I brought up several points including possibly enrolling his forestland in one of the carbon sequestration programs available in our state and investigating lowering his property taxes using Pennsylvania’s Clean and Green reduced property assessment. He asked me for further information on both programs, which I provided. It occurred to me other forest landowners might not know about the ability to lower their annual property taxes.  

Many forest landowners are aware and currently benefit the from the lower tax advantages of this program. But some forestland owners maybe unaware or think it is only worth considering for larger tracts of agricultural land. The fact is that forestland 10 acres in size or larger is eligible, and smaller tracts qualify for a larger percentage of tax reduction. For example, my Bald Eagle Tree Farm in Centre County, enrolled in Clean and Green, is comprised of three tax parcels that make up the contiguous Tree Farm of 600 acres. A recent call to my county assessment office provided me with some interesting information. The two larger tracts are eligible for almost a 70% reduction in annual taxes. However, my last property acquisition and smallest tract is 10 acres in size surprised me. It had been enrolled in Clean and Green when I purchased it in 2015. Its annual property taxes are actually ~ 97% less under this program! 

Clean and Green is a reduced property tax program that began in 1974 to provide a preferential tax assessment based on use values rather than current market value providing a tax savings for landowners including forestland. The Pennsylvania Agriculture website indicates 9.3 million acres are enrolled statewide. A forestland owner does not give up his ability to drop out of the program at some future date. But there are rollback fees on the previous seven years of tax savings for exiting the program. If your forestland is not enrolled in Clean and Green program it is worth looking into the savings by calling your county assessment office. An internet search can provide answers to most questions a forestland owner may have. The purpose of the program is to encourage keeping forestland in “Trees” and discourage its subdivision and development. I have completed nine sustainable forest timber harvests on my tree farm and found this program to fit nicely with my future management plans. The money saved in reduced property taxes can be directed towards improving forest management as I have done, or spent as you may see fit.

John W. Hoover

Chair Pennsylvania Tree Farm Committee

Landowners can learn how to use a decision-making tool to determine which carbon program fits their individual needs.

Date: December 14, 2021

Time: Noon and 7:00 p.m.

Participants will learn about several insects and diseases that can affect conifers growing in Pennsylvania.

Date: January 11, 2022

Time: Noon and 7:00 p.m.

Earn SAF, SFI, and SC/RF credits while learning about restoring forest buffers during this webinar.

Date: February 8, 2022

Time: Noon and 7:00 p.m.

Have you ever considered making your own maple syrup, or want to know how it's made? Getting Started in Maple Syrup will provide the basic information needed to get started in making your own maple syrup. Scott Weikert from Penn State Extension will explain how to get started making your own sweet treat.

When

Wed., Jan. 19, 2022 

(6:00 PM - 7:30 PM ET)

Where

Norwich Township Volunteer Fire Department 

9461 Rt. 46 

Crosby, PA 16724

Who is this for?

What will you learn?

Preregistration is required. No walk-ins accepted. Register here.

The vast majority of landowners have small woodlots less than 10 acres in size. Woods in Your Backyard Series is designed specifically, but not exclusively, for smaller landscapes. Join us to learn how landowners can positively influence the environment by implementing simple stewardship practices.

(7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET)

Wednesdays

Jan. 19 & 26, 2022

Feb. 2, 9, 16, & 23, 2022

Mar. 2, 9, & 16, 2022

Live Online, via Zoom

Landowners

Land Managers

Conservation Organizations

Why Manage Forests

Forest Ecology

Creating and Managing Wildlife Habitat

Identifying and Controlling Invasive Plants

Forest Health Issues and Management

Forests and Water

Selecting Native Trees for Various Sites

Establishing Meadows and Forests

Creating Plans for Your Property

The Woods in Your Backyard Manual

The manual used for this workshop, The Woods in Your Backyard: Learning to Create and Enhance Natural Areas Around Your Home, is a self-directed book. It will guide participants through the process of developing and implementing projects to enhance their land's natural resources.

Each participant will receive a complimentary, full color, 108-page copy of The Woods in Your Backyard manual (a $29 value).

The Forest Health, Insect, and Disease Briefing will once again be conducted as a face-to-face meeting for 2022. A live webinar will also be offered for those unable to attend the in-person event. 

Pennsylvania pesticide recertification credits (Category and Core), Society of American Foresters continuing forestry education credits, International Society of Arboriculture continuing education units, and Sustainable Forestry Initiative Training units will be available. Virtual participants do not need to attend both webinars, but they must attend one full live session to receive credits. 

Session topics and registration for the in-person and virtual event will be available in January 2022.

 

Who should attend?  

This meeting is designed specifically for forestry and other natural resource management professionals. 

 

This in-person conference includes the day-long program of the full briefing, including a Core credit pesticide session, the DCNR insect and disease update, and five additional forest health presentations. 

Date: March 15, 2022

Time: 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Location:

The Penn Stater Hotel and

Conference Center

215 Innovation Blvd.

State College, PA 16803

 

The virtual event is an abbreviated update of the full briefing. These live webinars will be presented in the morning and repeated in the evening. Each session will include the insect and disease update from DCNR and a Core credit pesticide session. 

Date: March 17, 2022

Times:

8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. or

6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Location: Live Webinar

Lymantria dispar, which you may know as " gypsy moth " is an insect that can cause significant damage to trees when populations are high . During those times, the population and impact are not equally distributed across the state or region. It is important to keep an eye on the damage and evidence of insect activity that occurs locally in your forest. Some landowners who are concerned about very high populations may choose to pursue contracts with aerial spray applicators who are hired to spray control agents – for example, Btk (Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki) and tebufenozide, known by the brand name "Mimic®," – across forest parcels in the spring to minimize damage from this insect.

December 5, 2021

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (HWA, Adelges tsugae) is an aphid-like, soft-bodied insect, almost too small to see with the naked eye. Native to Asia, HWA was first reported in the eastern United States near Richmond, Virginia in the 1950s. It has since spread to 20 states and two Canadian provinces. 

A tree's tolerance to the insect’s attack correlates to many stress factors, such as heat and drought. Rising temperatures, due to climate change, is allowing HWA to expand northward throughout the hemlock's range and poses a threat by reducing suitable habitat for hemlocks. Moderate HWA populations may reduce tree health. Severe infestations will bring about premature needle drop, reduced twig growth, dieback, and tree death.

The most obvious sign of an HWA infestation is masses of wooly white filaments on the underside of twigs at the base of the needles. The masses are produced by the females (there are no males) and are about 2mm long. The white, woolly mass conceals overwintering females and their eggs.

There are three main tools outlined in this fact sheet that are used to mitigate HWA and its impacts. These include insecticide treatments, biological control agents such as predatory insects, and cultural practices such as breeding hemlock for resistance. While HWA has caused significant damage to landscapes and forests across much of the hemlock’s range, many trees are still alive and in need of treatment.

Although HWA is difficult to treat and there are challenges to protecting hemlock stands not yet affected, conservation of this species is still possible. Insecticides are effective in settings from urban landscapes to managed forests. Strategies that focus on chemical control for the short-term and biological and cultural control (natural enemies and host resistance) for the long-term have the best chance for success.

This new fact sheet covers an integrated pest management approach to HWA mitigation, with a focus on insecticides. It outlines practical and sustainable methods for conserving eastern hemlock for the long run. The publication, “Integrated Approach to Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Mitigation,” is available as a free downloadable PDF; printed copies are available for purchase. To view the full publication, visit https://extension.psu.edu/integrated-approach-to-hemlock-woolly-adelgid-mitigation or call 877-345-0691. Portions of this publication were adapted from the “Eastern Hemlock Conservation Plan,” Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry, April 23, 2019.

###

EDITOR: For more information, contact Dave Jackson (814-355-4897, [email protected]).

If you are thinking about joining a carbon program, there are some things that you, the landowner, should ask before signing on the dotted line.

Because of the requirements set by the California Air Resources Board for compliance markets, programs that sell your carbon on a compliance market (also known as a regulated market) often have long contracts (100+ years). Programs that sell your carbon on a voluntary market generally have more flexibility and have contracts that range from one year to 30 years. It is important to consider how the length of contract fits with your forest and your goals for your forest. For example, enrolling in a 20-year harvest deferral program could be inappropriate for an 80-year-old aspen forest, since the aspen are at the end of their life and will likely be dead within the next five years. Instead, the aspen should be clear cut to maintain a healthy diverse ecosystem.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2021— The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin issuing final pandemic assistance payments to timber harvesters and timber hauling businesses through the Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers (PATHH) program starting next week. In total, $200 million will be provided to loggers and log trucking businesses who experienced a gross revenue loss of at least 10% during the period of Jan. 1 through Dec. 1, 2020, compared to the period of Jan. 1 through Dec. 1, 2019. This support is part of USDA’s broader Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. 

“We know loggers and truckers felt the financial burden of the pandemic,” said FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. “This included lack of access to wood processing mills, which caused major disruptions to the logging industry. We made initial payments as we enrolled customers in PATHH and are happy to now finalize payments to provide this much needed assistance.” 

“We are grateful for the partnerships with other USDA agencies to recognize the tremendous need and to mobilize quickly to assist loggers and log truckers adversely impacted by the pandemic,” said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. “The American Loggers Council, Intertribal Timber Council, National Association of State Foresters, and Forest Resources Association were critical to helping us better understand the impacts and tailor a program that best serves these two sectors that are critical to forest management across the country.”

Eligible PATHH applicants must have derived at least 50 percent of total gross revenue from timber harvesting and/or timber hauling. Specifically, eligible activities included cutting timber, transporting timber and/or the processing of wood on-site on the forest land, such as chipping, grinding, converting to biochar or cutting to smaller lengths. 

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, authorized up to $200 million for PATHH. FSA issued initial payments up to $2,000 as applications were approved. Now that signup has ended and FSA has evaluated remaining funds, FSA has started to issue second payments to those applicants whose calculated payment amount was over $2,000.  

Based on the number of actual PATHH applications filed, FSA will be required to lower the payment limitation for PATHH from $125,000 to $75,000 and apply a payment factor of 70.5% across all calculated payments to ensure program outlays do not exceed the available funding. These provisions were previously outlined in the Notice of Funding Availability in the event the revenue loss reported exceeded available funding.  

Pandemic Assistance for Producers Delivered in 2021 

As USDA looks for long-term solutions to build back a better food system, the Department is committed to delivery of financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers and businesses who have been impacted by COVID-19 market disruptions. In addition to the funding USDA is issuing today, the Department has provided a broad range of support to America’s farmers and ranchers as part of its Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative, including:  

A full list of Pandemic Assistance is available at farmers.gov/pandemic-assistance. USDA expects further Pandemic Assistance to continue to fill remaining gaps later this year.   

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov. 

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.

Paper Excellence, a North American manufacturer of pulp and specialty printing, writing and packaging papers headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Can., is acquiring Domtar for $3 billion. 

After the transaction closes, Paper Excellence says it intends to continue the operations of Domtar as a stand-alone business entity. Domtar will continue to be led by its management team and Paper Excellence plans to retain Domtar’s corporate and production locations.

Paper Excellence has seven pulp and paper manufacturing facilities in Canada, with more than 2.8 million tonnes of production and $2.4 billion in annual sales. The company reported $3.65 billion in sales for 2020.

Domtar maintains corporate offices in Fort Mill, SC and Montreal and operates multiple pulp, paper, converting, liner board and chip mill manufacturing facilities in North America, including a paper facility in Bennettsville, SC, a pulp facility in Ashdown, Ark and a pulp and paper mill in Johnsonburg, PA. The Johnsonburg Mill manufactures uncoated freesheet papers used by customers to create brochures, direct mail, stationery, checks, envelopes, fast-food takeout wrap and hardbound books.

Twenty years have passed since the 9/11 attacks, yet there’s a feeling of permanence in a hemlock grove that stands where so many lives were lost that day in southwestern Pennsylvania. Here, the Flight 93 National Memorial draws visitors to the grove’s almost cathedral-like canopy.

But for hemlocks to endure at this site, bearing witness to history, it takes the teamwork of partners led by the National Park Service. Among those partners is the Forest Service and their behind-the-scenes role defending the lofty hemlock from a tiny yet formidable threat, the hemlock woolly adelgid.

Flight 93 was the last of the four hijacked planes to take off on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. When reports of the other flights began to reach Flight 93’s passengers and crew, a group attempted to take back control of the plane before it was crashed by the hijackers in a field near Shanksville, Penn. This group’s heroism prevented the plane from reaching what was likely a Washington target.

Dedicated in 2011 and administered by the NPS, the Flight 93 National Memorial includes the 38-acre crash site and encompasses over 2,000 acres. With the reforestation effort taking place on this former mining site, about half of those acres are now forested.

While the larger memorial includes a mix of tree species, at its core is an 11-acre grove of almost all hemlock trees. This grove was standing when the plane made impact 20 years ago, and some of these witness trees were marked by the crash.

“There is fire scorch on some trees there,” says Rick Turcotte, a Forest Service forest health group leader who supports work on the hemlock grove. “There were materials in the trees and paint on some of them. They witnessed the crash and have the scars from what has happened there.”

Hemlock trees are so central to the memorial that they are reflected in its design. Panels incorporating hemlock bark line a walkway that follows the path of the plane when it struck the ground. New hemlocks have been planted to fill in the edge of the forest where the crash cut into it.

“The goal is to always sustain hemlock in that area,” Turcotte says. This goal is made more challenging by the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect that feeds on sap and can weaken and kill hemlock trees after successive years of infestation. Hemlock woolly adelgid is widespread across the eastern U.S. and has caused a significant decline in the hemlock population.

For nearly 20 years, at the NPS’s request, the Forest Service has provided technical and financial assistance to manage insects, diseases and weeds at the memorial. All three Forest Service branches: The Eastern Region State & Private Forestry, Northern Research Station and the Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania are involved in the hemlock effort. Among the key State & Private Forestry contributors are Turcotte, forest stewardship coordinator Amy Hill and entomologist Bill Oldland.

Becoming part of this effort “was an honor,” Hill says. “It gave a whole new meaning of the term ‘a sense of purpose.’”

The Forest Service recommends strategies for suppressing hemlock woolly adelgid, while the NPS, as the site’s land manager, makes the decision. To date, the primary treatment has been chemical control.

With one round of chemical treatments, hemlock woolly adelgid at the memorial are currently at a manageable level. But they are not eliminated, and the challenge to control their population will continue.

“Memorial sites that we’re familiar with, a lot of those are man made,” Hill says. “This one is special. It’s natural, it’s a living memorial. We will come and go as we leave civil service, but that grove should always be there. It’s a place of healing, for both people and the land.”