March 03, 2004
Fixing Payments to Counties
This is old news by a week or so but important nonetheless. For years the ADP has been working to enable a more financially secure system by which the Forest Service can provide revenues to local counties in lieu of property taxes (which the federal government doesn't pay on public property). The timber industry led by the Allegheny Forest Alliance has fought this every inch of the way. The timber industry has cost local communities millions of dollars through their political lobbying against a fixed payment system.
Fortunately, cooler minds have finally prevailed. And by disabling the connection between timber sales and payments to counties each of the counties (except Forest which opted out of the timber payment system three years ago and has already seen the benefits of fixed payments) is now seeing a huge boost in their revenues from the federal government for fiscal year 2003 (which closed on September 30, 2003).
Don't tell the Warren County School District that "money doesn't grow on trees."
The school district raked in $118,000 more in Allegheny National Forest timber harvest receipts than expected this year.Fiscal director Larry Conrad told members of the school board's Finance Committee on Monday that he had projected the school district would receive $700,000 to apply to the current fiscal year's budget.
But Conrad said the check has now been received from the federal government and the amount is actually $818,748.
Some of the unexpected revenue may have to offset areas of the budget where revenue projections fell short, however, said Conrad.
Nonetheless, Conrad said, "This $818,000 is certainly a positive."
Since the school district opted for the U.S. Forest Service "safety net" program over the next three years rather than speculate on what its share of actual timber harvest revenues would be, Conrad said the district can expect to receive the same amount of $818,748 in each of the next two years.
Committee chairman Dale Gerbec asked what the school district would have received this year if it had decided to speculate on timber sales.
Conrad said that figure is not known at this point because there are still a number of timber sales "in the pipeline."
The $818,748 is the most the school district has received since the 1997-98 school year, when $901,775 was received. In the years which followed, the school district received between $430,600 and $692,500 as the volume of timber sales on the forest declined, chiefly due to ongoing litigation.
It isn't clear to my why the newspapers are still reporting the payments as timber revenues. The amount of the payments now have nothing to do with the amount of timber cut or its market values (historically more significant in determining payments than logging levels anyway).
Another important correction is the insinuation that they don't know what the payments would have been based on timber sales. if Warren County had opted to remain dependent on the unreliable timber payment system the current payments would be based on 2003 timber sales which are historical and have nothing to do with what is "in the pipeline". Nevertheless, it is very unlikely that they would be as high as the guaranteed payments. I should also point out that even if they do exceed fixed payments in a given year there is no guarantee that they will continue at that high pace in the future - indeed that is even more unlikely since market values and logging levels always have and always will fluctuate. Which is why guaranteed payments always made more sense that the antiquated timber payment system.
Posted by jkleissler at 05:55 PM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2003
Congressman Making Stuff Up Again
Leave it to Congressman John Peterson to make a false claim about the economics of the timber industry in Pennsylvania. In today's Bradford Era Peterson blames reduced logging levels in the Allegheny National Forest for the loss of value-added furniture makers. This is nonsense for a couple of reasons: 1) we have virtually no value added furniture makers because Peterson and his friends at AHUG have promoted the export of our logs and 2) logging in our region has increased over the past few years. Or does Peterson forget using his position in the State Assembly to promote funding to groups like the Pennsylvania Hardwood Development Council to push the export of hardwood logs.
In fact, in today's article Peterson says that we need to do more logging so that the timber industry can help improve our rural economy. However, logging in our areas has increased over 300% these last three decades and that has done nothing for our regional unemployment and economic stability.
And get this, despite blaming logging levels in the Allegheny National Forest Peterson admits that the problem is that jobs are disappearing to China. Is this amnesia or does he really forget that he voted to normalize trade relations with China three years ago?
Here are Peterson's comments:
Peterson said a lack of timber cutting in the Allegheny National Forest has also helped lead wood product businesses in his district to close their doors."The dynamics have changed," Peterson said. "Those furniture businesses that were once located here are moving to China. The forest is not putting enough cherry out on the market ... and the demand for cherry is intense now."
Peterson said China is currently buying saw logs, which don't need graded, sorted or dried. "It's put a crimp in what once was a steady business around here."
"Our wood products business was our 'ace in the hole,'" Peterson said. "Now, companies are going to China and they're not coming here."
"That was one part we could be secure in and continue to grow," he said of the timber industry.
It is time for Peterson and the timber industry to get real. If we want a healthy economy we need to attract a diversified economic base. And if we want to stem population declines we need to make our area more attractive to young aduts between 25 and 40 years old. This means meeting their demands for scenic beauty and recreation opportunities. And gee, what do you know, we have a 513,000 acre national forest right here available to do just that with the appropriate political will.
Posted by jkleissler at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2003
Logging: America's Most Dangerous Job
The following is from an article entitled "The top ten most dangerous jobs in America" published Monday on the CNN/Money website:
-snip-
New York (CNN/Money) - On December 3, 2002, a section of a felled tree
struck and killed an 18-year-old logger. He was one of the last of 104
lumbermen to die in 2002, when timber cutters led the nation with the
highest on-the-job mortality rate of any vocation.
The mortality rate among lumbermen, 118 timber cutters per 100,000
workers, heads the list of the top 10 most dangerous jobs in America for
2002 put out by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and was more than 26 times
that of the average U.S. worker.
...Many timber fellers earn upwards of $60,000 working a nine- or 10-month year.
-end snip-
While the article states that loggers make upwards of $60,000 annually, that's not the case here in the Allegheny region. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics database loggers in Elk County, PA, earned an average of $409 per week. Even if these folks worked this most dangerous job for 52 weeks of the year (which they generally don't) that would amount to just $21,268. One likely cause of the disparity is the lack of unions in the timber industry in this area. The higher-paying jobs in this industry are in manufacturing. Unfortunately, much of the high-value hardwoods from this region are shipped to manufacturing facilities overseas. (Interestingly, the state, through the Hardwood Development Council, actively supports timber exports by furthering initiatives to draw timber buyers from Europe and Asia.)
-Rachel Martin
Posted by at 06:04 PM | Comments (1)
October 06, 2003
Scare tactics from the Allegheny Forest Alliance
Now that all four counties within the Allegheny National Forest will be receiving secure payments instead of 25% of timber receipts, timber industry apologists are using blatant scare tactics to discredit the decision by the county commissioners.
Jack Hedlund, Executive Director for the Allegheny Forest Alliance, said:
"The problem (in selecting the secure payments) lies with the sunset issue after four years and the comfort with a guaranteed payment, which is likely not to continue after that time."
How does Mr. Hedlund know that the payments will not continue after four years? It is one thing to speculate but to say "likely not to continue after that time", that is baiting. Mr. Hedlund and the AFA will spend the next 4 years scaring people into thinking that Washington is going to strip away the funding for this program which is actually unlikely to happen.
Another misrepresentation by the paper:
Until several years ago, the local share had simply been 25 percent of annual timber receipts. But as timber harvesting and receipts dropped drastically, chiefly as a result of litigation which slowed or halted many timber sales, the Forest Service has given municipalities the option of accepting a flat guaranteed "safety net" payment, or taking the chance that the 25 percent figure will bring in more revenue.
There, of course, is no mention that in 1995, the Forest Service reduced their Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) by nearly half due to poor regeneration success under the even-aged management regime to promote black cherry. Also, market conditions are not that great and foreign competition continues to outstrip American viability in this great new "global economy".
Also not mentioned in relation to the halted or slowed timber sales is the fact that the Forest Service was breaking the law.
Isn't journalism supposed to cover both sides of the issue?
Posted by Ryan at 11:28 AM | Comments (1)
October 01, 2003
Counties Go With Secure Payments
All four counties in the Allegheny National Forest will now receive secure payments from the federal government rather than rely on 25% of timber receipts from timber sales.
The Bradford Era reported today that the 3 counties who had yet to make the decision - Warren, McKean and Elk - decided to follow the lead of Forest County. Forest County opted for the secure payments two years ago and has been receiving more money than the other three counties - something that never happened when Forest County relied on the 25% fund.
However, not everyone is pleased with the decision, like McKean County Commissioner Larry Stratton:
"We're very concerned about it because this will reduce the impetus for cutting".
This is pretty much an admission that it was never about schools and townships for those who supported the 25% fund - it was about supporting the timber industry and its desire to log in the Allegheny National Forest.
I can see now where some of the 15% that the county receives for particular projects will be used:
"Another possible use is for a forestry education program."
In other words, teaching our children that clearcutting and spraying toxic chemicals to promote a few tree species that are valuable is responsible forest management.
Posted by Ryan at 10:17 AM | Comments (2)
September 26, 2003
Lumber prices, Iraq reconstruction and tree huggers
This is interesting - the Warren Times Observer reported today that the rising cost of plywood is largely due to the reconstruction of Iraq.
What is funny, is that Harold Cornish, owner of Cornish Lumber Company places the blame, in part, on "tree huggers":
"They've got our national forest around here in the best shape it's been in in years, and now a few tree huggers want to screw the whole thing up. Timber is like a garden. When it needs to be cut, it should be cut and let the new come up," Cornish said.
This is such a shameless attempt to increase access to the Allegheny National Forest for logging. The whole 'timber is like a garden' mentality is so old and obviously not based on sound ecological science it's hard to believe anyone would suggest it as legitimate. The paper should of contacted someone, preferrably the 'tree huggers' getting attacked, for a rebuttal instead of presenting to the public a completely one-sided story.
Posted by Ryan at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)