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Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited New Hampshire earlier this month to invite ideas on how to best promote innovative community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors. Forest Society President/Forester Jane Difley was a panelist at the event. Click here to see some of the highlights.
Good Forestry in the Granite State, New Hampshire's voluntary recommended forest practices manual, is near completion of a two year process to update the manual. The Forest Society has partnered with New Hampshire's State Forester to organize a group of stakeholders as a steering committee to guide the update of the manual. The University of New Hampshire's Cooperative Extension Service is managing the project, and has published on behalf of the steering committee a final draft for public comment. Public comments must be submitted by April 15. An electronic copy of the final draft is available at http://goodforestry.pbworks.com/FrontPage. If you wish to obtain a paper copy of the document or wish to submit comments via email, please contact either Karen Bennett at karen.bennett@unh.edu or Kristina Ferrare at kristina.ferrare@unh.edu or call them at (603) 862-3883. You can also submit your comments via mail to Karen Bennett, 131 Main Street, 210 Nesmith Hall, Durham, NH 03824. The New Hampshire Timberland Owners Associations is sponsoring three evening "Timber Talk" sessions on April 6, 7 and 8. The final draft of GFGS is one topic of discussion. For details go to http://www.nhtoa.org/timbertalk.html.
A core value of forestry in New Hampshire is the principle of voluntary forest management practices. The Forest Society helped lead the effort to create the original publication of Good Forestry in the Granite State in 1997, the New Hampshire forestry community's guide to recommended voluntary forest management practices. The Forest Society is also working with a group of stakeholders to update this publication, with a second edition due out later this spring.
One key to success with voluntary forest management practices is to positively reinforce the practice of good forestry. Another is to make sure that bad forestry practices are called out. A third is to assure that the forestry laws that are on the books are fully enforced. Last winter, an individual with a record of violating state forestry and wetland laws purchased 763 acres in Groton, proceeded to liquidate the remaining timber on the property, and was cited for 13 violations totaling $4,500 in fines. This same individual had previously been fined more than $40,000 by the State for violations of state forestry and wetland laws dating back to 2000.
This kind of habitual offender will continue to violate state forestry and wetland laws and build these costs into his cost of doing business. But when a forestry law enforcement official cited this individual for violations inGroton, the official had no ability to factor the offender's past record into the fines levied. Habitual offenders of state motor vehicle laws, unlike violators of forestry laws, are sent to jail if they accumulate a record of multiple and repeat offenses.
A legislative proposal is being crafted by New Hampshire's State Forester, the Forest Society, the NH Timberland Owners Association, and state legislators that would enable harsher financial penalties to be imposed on those who repeatedly violate state forestry and wetland laws. The limits on civil penalties would be increased to a maximum of $10,000 per violation, and violation of a cease and desist order would be elevated from a violation to a class A misdemeanor. These increased penalties are intended to provide a more persuasive deterrent to the habitual offenders who continue to flagrantly and willfully violate New Hampshire law. There are very few operators who fit this classification, but the few that do exist endanger the continued benefits of voluntary forest management practices for all others.
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