Lawmakers Set Schedule For Remainder Of Session

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the 2009 Session. There are 18 days left on the books (the Constitution allows for 40), and last week they adopted a schedule to accommodate the possibility of receiving stimulus money from Washington to help with the state's budget.

Lawmakers will meet Monday through Thursday until March 25, which will be the 35th day of session. Then they'll recess until June 22 when they will return to Atlanta to complete budget work. They have to pass a 'balanced' budget before the beginning of fiscal year 2010 (which has to be approved by the Governor).

There are planned cuts to all state agencies to help restore balance to the current budget which is estimated to be about a $2.5 million shortfall. Of particular interest to the forest community are the reductions facing the Georgia Forestry Commission. Like most other agencies, they faced a 14.5% reduction before the revenue collections were announced last week. Now GFC will probably be forced to make even deeper cuts.

Looks like CareerCast just doesn't get us

A friend of mine pointed me towards an article on the best and worst jobs in America on the Wall Street Journal's website. Here's the link: Doing the Math to Find the Good Jobs.

CareerCast.com apparently did a study to discover what the best and worst jobs are. Their criteria are environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress.

And what did they determine the worst job in America to be? Lumberjack. (For the purpose of their paper, they call all timber cutters and loggers "lumberjacks".)

Certainly times are tough for loggers and the job can be quite dangerous at time, but I, for one, think that they just don't understand us. After all, they said our environment was a major negative factor. I don't know about you guys, but I don't know too many loggers who want to be behind a desk all day.

To the Wall Street Journal's credit, they did follow up with an actual logger:

But Eric Nellans, who has been cutting timber for the past 11 years for Pike Lumber, is passionate about his profession. "It's a very rewarding job, especially at the end of the day when you see the work you accomplished," he says. Mr. Nellans, 35, didn't become discouraged even after he accidentally knocked down a dead tree and broke his right leg in the process four years ago. "I was back in the woods cutting timber in five weeks," he says.

But, as far the report goes, loggers ranked below taxi driver and garbage collector. No disrespect to anyone in those fields, but I don't know too many loggers who would trade with them.

AgTEC announces truck weight reform initiative

The full text of this press release can be read by clicking this link.

Basically, the Agricultural Transportation Efficiency Coalition (AgTEC) is seeking to improve the efficiency of transporting raw agricultural and forest commodities from farms and forests to processing facilities by increasing the overall gross vehicle weight limits. This measure, if successful, would increase them to 97,000 pounds.

AgTEC claims this increase would mean nearly 70 million fewer miles on the road and save 14 million gallons in diesel fuel. It would also potentially reduce road wear.

Loggers call on Bronson for emergency help to rising fuel prices

I received the following information in my email and I thought I'd share it with the log-n-blog. It's from the FFA newsletter.

Elevated diesel fuel prices, which have caused a spike in the cost of wood fiber production, are leaving many Florida loggers concerned about their livelihood. Logger leaders met in Tallahassee on Wednesday to formulate a plan of action to seek political relief that some say is the only thing that will keep them in business. “Emergency situations call for emergency solutions”, says Patsy Nathe, who heads up the Florida Loggers Committee. The plan calls for emergency action by Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson to seek a 95,000-pound weight extension so more products can be hauled with each gallon of fuel burned. Efforts will be made by the Association to get other agriculture groups to join this initiative.

AX MEN coming to the History Channel

On Sunday, March 9, at 10:00pm, the History Channel will launch a new program from the creators of Ice Road Truckers. The idea of the show, AX MEN, is to examine the lives of loggers in the Pacific Northwest.

I had an opportunity to see an early screening of the first episode. It looks like it's going to be an interesting, and even exciting, TV show. As is the case with all shows of this nature, they certainly dramatized a few things. I also think a few of the guys on the logging crews did some things in front of the camera that they might not otherwise have done.

There is also a large focus on how dangerous logging can be. I think that, on the whole, that's a good things, as long as they don't end up painting the profession as too dangerous. I noticed that the program even mentioned that the area these loggers were in was practicing sustainable forestry and replanting after a cut. (And one of the crews is even moving felled trees out of a wind damaged area.)

On the whole, I think this will be a fairly positive show. If you want to see a short preview of AX MEN, follow this link.

Our nation's forests are growing

A press release from the Abundant Forests Alliance pointed me towards the USDA Forest Service's web page for their Resources Planning Act. Specially, it noted a recently released document concerning changes in America's forests (growth, removal, mortality). The document reveals that America's forests are still growing. Some key findings were:

• There are 750 million acres of forestland in the U.S. today, about the same as in 1907.
• 11 states had increases of over 25 percent over the last century, and nine had increases of over 30 percent.
• Overall, forestland in the northern U.S. has increased by almost 30 percent.

These findings match the Society of American Foresters 2007 State of America's Forests report.

All in all, this is encouraging news. It means that, as a country, landowners are working to keep our nation covered in forests. Of course, we know that we will have to keep working towards goals that let landowners maintain this land, such as a fair tax policy, freedom to practice timber farming (including control burning), a healthy economic environment for loggers and truckers, and a thriving forest products industry.

Maine passes bill to increase weight limits

To help fight the growing cost of diesel fuel, the Governor of Maine has signed LD 2155, Resolve, To Assist Maine’s Forest Products Industry. He signed it only a few hours after it passed in the House. The resolve allows for a temporary 5% increase in weight tolerances for trucks hauling forest products in Maine. The bill was also endorsed 13-0 by Maine's Transportation Committee.

“We know that our forest product industry and Maine’s truckers are being hurt by record high diesel prices,” Governor Baldacci said. “They are struggling right now; and they need help. With the quick action on this legislation, they’ll get some relief right now.”

Click here for the official press release from Maine.gov.

The Governor of Maine also announced that they would submit a new bill that would temporarily exempt truck drivers from the sales tax.

A similar measure in the state of Georgia could help breathe new life into the forest economy. If you have thoughts on this issue and what similar action we might take in Georgia, you are welcomed to leave them in the comments section.