research station leaders. combatting forest related invasive species. the early plant pest detection and surveillance improvement program of the usda plant and an mall health inspection service is vital to rapid detection and response to destructive invasive species. nasf supports continued authorization and funding. improving forest market opportunities, reauthorization of stewardship contracting authorities is essential to helping the forest service restore healthy forest ecosystems and provides sustainability and employment opportunities in rural communities. nasf supports the reauthorization of stewardship contracting authorities which is currently set to expire in 2013. these recommendations represent

conclusions and consensus viewpoints driven by forest action plans authorized in part by the last farm bill. thank you for this opportunity. and i stand ready to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you. mr. holmes now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman thompson, and members of the subcommittee. on behalf of the national association of conservation districts, our 3,000 member districts, and our 17,000 supervisors across this country, i thank you for this opportunity to be here today. i currently serve as a board member from the state of alabama for nacd as well as chairman of the nacd forest resources policy group. my wife and i own homestead company sole proprietorship in marian, alabama, where we are a tree farm operation. my family has used a variety of conservation practices over

nearly 200 years including cross fencing, rotational grazing, padded water troughs and prescribed burning. we received our first farm plan in 1939. and we have been certified tree farm since 1941. we have a mix of pine and hardwoods on our property and in 1999 we reintroduced long leaf to our property. we currently have a forest management plan and a registered foerster to assist us with our forest management. the importance of conservation cannot be stated enough. that is why nacd supports the passage of the 2012 farm bill. conservation districts throughout this country have been strong participants and supporters of the farm stewardship programs which provide technical assistance made by state partners to nonindustrial private forest owners. since the program's creation it

has produced over 270,000 resource management plans for more than 31 million acres of private forestland developing a sound resource management in conservation plans is the principal tenant to nacd. nacd is one of the four partners of the joint forestry team. including the forest service, nrcs and my fellow panelists the national association of state foresters. the forest management plan template the team has helped develop serves as a primary good dayness to nrcs forestry technical service providers. i serve as chairman of the joint forestry team in 2010 and saw firsthand the value that the team provided to not just the stewardship program to the forest industry as a whole. on my own land in the southeastern united states i have seen direct benefit of the

forest stewardship program. my work with the long leaf pine restoration has been in part a product of the stewardship program. to date i have restored more than 700 acres of long leaf pine in an effort to restore this native tree to our forest. second, the forest legacy program has been an important part of conservation district work by allowing landowners to help protect environmentally important forest areas from expansion and by engaging with the locally led process to develop conservation plans. while the senate 2012 farm bill framework now includes a program cap of $200 million annually, i do not believe this cap will be a negative impact on being able to successfully carry out responsible conservation. insects continue to be -- to

wreak havoc on our forest. pine beetles have been particularly devastating in the forest throughout the western united states. insect infestation and disease have a direct impact on our members and fourth more put their livelihood at danger due to the loss of timber and the increase risk of wildfire. in the farm bill framework we have seen this saz a step in the rielg direction. in conclusion these farm bill programs show a track record of success. and every dollar spent is seen a return. the forest title is critical in ensuring the health and sustainability of our forest for generations to come. i am happy to answer any questions you or the subcommittee may have. thank you, sir. >> thank you, mr. holmes. now i yield to the gentleman

from florida, mr. sutherland for the purpose of an introduction. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'd like to thank you for the opportunity to hold this hearing. to review forestry in the energy programs within the 2012 farm bill. as many people may not be aware my home state of florida's highest valued agriculture product is trees. over $16 billion is infused into florida's economy from the manufacturing and distribution of forest products each year. florida's product industry and forestry continues and supports many communities in our congressional district and currently over 133,000 employees of florida's forest industry it provides enormous economic bedrock to our ag community. the national forest is the largest u.s. national forest many the state of florida and it resides in my congressional district. i am proud today to welcome a witness from our district. it's an honor to welcome richard

is wab of perry, florida, in my congressional district. a third generation logger with over 22 years of experience in the forestry industry. he is representing southeastern wood producers association including over 500 businesses in florida and south georgia. as well as the american loggers council. i commend mr. is wab for his commitment to strengthening the future of forestry for his family and for our community. i yield back. >> thank you. go ahead and proceed if your five minutes. >> thank you, chairman thompson and congressman souterland. >> mr. swab, just give me a second. i apologize. miss -- i do want to do a house keep thing. i introduced mr. costa for the purpose of unanimous consent request. >> thank you plmp for your courtesy and thank the witnesses on an issue that is important for our subcommittee to deal with. unfortunately i have to go, but i'd like to have unanimous

consent to submit testimony of land trust alliance from the iowa land trust foundation, the society for the protection of new hampshire forest, the vermont land trust on energy and conservation on giving states more conservation options for implementing the usda forest legacy program. i have some questions also that i'd like to submit for the record and have unanimous consent on that and thank my colleagues for the courtesy and would like to submit that for the record. >> without objection. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> we need to work together for all of the right reasons. >> i apologize mr. swab, go ahead and start over with your five minutes of testimony. >> thank you, chairman thompson. i'm a third generation logger who has work in the forest industry for the past 22 years. i've been educated and trained by the guidelines of florida's

best management practices and i'm a proud florida master logger. i'm here representing my family's small business. we are a timber harvesting company in perry, florida, we've been practicing sustainable forestry for 52 years. i'm representing southeastern wood producers association which representing 500 businesses in florida and georgia as well as the american loggers council a national organization representing professional timber harvesters in 30 states. our first concern is directed toward the forest i have beentory analysis program as well. the fia program is the best resource we have to outline and plan for the future of forests. the data is being used to create jobs today. i personally work with other companies to help develop their new markets in our region of the country. these new markets are established and located in part based on the available fia data. we would ask you to reaffirm the u.s. forest service forest inventory analysis program to

enhance the program's efficiency and analysis. next we would like to talk about the stewardship contracting program. it offers forest managers the use of alternative measures on federal forestland. stewardship contracts are used for treatments that promote healthy forests and expand business and job opportunities. my family's small business has worked on two stewardship sales in florida since they were first authorized. it was great to see revenues from the timber sale used on florida at the same time. fire lines, roads and wildlife habitats were improved or created. we urged congress to perm innocently reauthorize the stewardship contract authority in the 2012 farm bill. next we would ask you to reauthorize the national institute of food and resources extension act. maintain the current funding levels. my company has personally worked with the university of florida's office extension by harvesting new types of biomass and other timber crops on their projects.

i have personally seen these crops and am very excited about the different growth of crops. without the extension i don't know if this research would happen today. other item fond in the farm bill section 8401 which is a provision for qualifying timber contract options. since the passage of the 2008 farm bill it would be safe to say that our sector of the economy is in a state of economic depression. federal contracts for federal timber sales during this time are left holding contracts that are no now priced too high for them to be able to harvest without incurring substantial financial losses. i personally know many of these small family owned businesses and know they contribute to the communities where unemployment rates are still hovering between 15% and 20%. these small family owned businesses need additional time on these contracts as we continue to wait for our marks to recover. please extend 8401 for timber

sales that were awarded during the period january 1th of 2008 and ending on december 31, 2010. there are am areas in the energy title that we have the attention of the timber harvesting community. first the definition of renewable biomass. we would like to see the current definition as written maintained in to 2012 farm bill. we need as broad a based definition for renewable biomass in any energy policy. this is very important to my business because 2/3 of our production is now based on producing woodchips for renewable energy production. we also don't favor any program that would allow for the artificial manipulation of existing markets. the biomass crop assistance program b cap is a prime example of a well intended federal program gone awry. our company personally took part in the program and experienced nothing but market disruptions and extra paperwork.

while existing wood consumer facilities lowered prices to lower their operating costs, there was no new facilities established in our area as a result of the program. the b cap program might have worked well for the agriculture sector, but it was a disaster for our business and other businesses in the timber harvesting community. the last program that i would like to address is the biobased markets program. under the current law forest products have received an unfavorable position in the program. we would like to see the language in the 2012 farm bill that would create parity between forest and other biobased products by inserting language that would apply an innovative approach to producing biobased products regardless of the date of entry. i'm working with a company called american progress which is a company that is completing construction of a pilot wood ethanol plant. they take waste water from an

existing plant and producing woody ethanol. the company saw a need and realized what it took to solve the need and made the investment. thank you for allowing me to provide testimony and comments as you formulate the 2010 farm bill. i'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. >> thank you. now recognize mr. gorgan for five minutes of testimony, please. >> thank you mr. chairman, members of can committee. i'm the society of american foresters chief executive officer and executive vice president. i really appreciate the opportunity to be here today to talk with you about some very important programs and really an important part of the american economic picture when we think about forests. i'm very pleased with this panel much of what i would like to tell you this morning actually has been said by my colleagues here today which is outstanding. i will try to stave as much time on your busy schedules as i can. with that said, i do want to point out that we represent more

than 12,000 people across the country who have really dedicated their lives to the professional management, care and protection of america's forest. these folks have really committed themselves to ensure that the forests of the united states are taken care of and managed in the best possible way. some of the programs that are contained within the farm bill are very important to their ability to do their jobs. we heard about some of them today. i'll touch on them as well. there are some other items that i would like to discuss with you including contracting authority and also the damaging bark beetle issue particularly in the western part of the united states. when i think about stewardship contracting in particular i really want to talk about the success of the program that started off as a pilot project. we see how thins work. we're going to make sure that the tool is something that can be used on the ground in the forest service and the bureau of land management can truly benefit from. and actually be a benefit for the taxpayer as well.

and the truth is the contracting authority has been very successful for both of these agencies. we would like to advocate for permanent reauthorization to contracting. and really it is a big success story. we treated over half a million acres in the united states with stewardship contracts at this point in time. we've awarded somewhere over 900 strategic contracts in the last five years. and we're continuing to increase those contracts as many as 200 were conducted last year in 2011. with the authority expiring in 2013, we're concerned that if it's not permanently reauthorized a lot of the momentum that the forest service and the bureau of land management have put into the steward contracting may scale back or not be invested in the way we think it should be. this is an important tool because it allows these agencies to act like a business. many of you own land. you understand what happens when you have a project being done on your particular land. someone comes in to do some

forest management to reduce the fire risk on your property. maybe there was a culvert that needed to be replaced you get that contract as well. this is something that can be done through stewardship contracting that wasn't allowed for these agencies before. they had to have a separate contract. this allows them to put it all together, select good contractors and get the work done. when i think about western pine beetle in particularly the mountain pine beetle i have to tell you it's a very sad story. since 1997, bark beetle mortality has devastated more than 41.7 million acres across all ownershipers in the u.s. the forest service estimates up to 100,000 dead trees are killed by beetles alone and fall to the ground every day in southern wyoming and northern colorado. 100,000 trees falling every day that have been damaged by these beetles. we have got to do something. we've got to do something soon.

much of the forest in the west have really created a perfect storm for problems. we've had warm winters not killing off the beetles. poor forest management situations in many places and we need to do something about this in a critical and rapid fashion. we're encouraged by many in congress calling for increased sports management actions in these affected areas and we really support trying to do something about it and including language in the farm bill that can help expedite the forest services treatment of these stands throughout the west. i'd also like to touch on broad recommendations for the 2012 farm bill. the 2008 farm bill included several improvements for forestry by supporting forest conservation and practices throughout the country. and the 2012 farm bill we're really hoping that the committee will pay close attention to the recommendations of the forest and the farm bill coalition which we very much support. we understand the budget pressure that you're under.

this is a very difficult time to be thinking about spending money. but some of these programs are really quite critical. we ask you to think about programs that improve conservation programs, strengthening forestry outreach, education, research and particularly the forest inventory and analysis program which we touched on as one of the most important fundamentalal building blocks for forests. and really doing what we can to improve market opportunities for forests. and really focus on this fantastic green building material that we have in the united states. thank you very much for your time. i look forward to your questions. >> thank you. i will proceed with questioning. i'll take the liberties of the first five minutes. my first question is for you. i appreciate your observations. we are in difficult chamgs. i think one of the unique opportunities we have and our subcommittee and agriculture committee is the forest can be a great source of revenue given all the public lands that have

been secured and continue to be sitting some of those idle with tremendous resource for this country. could be a great return on investment if we are promoting the proper healthy management, chin clouds proper healthy management, which includes harvesting. just taking a little more clarification. you talked about your remarks about the stewardship contracting authority. what makes the stewardship contracting authority unique and/or different from other contracts? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. you know, it's really interesting that you talk about the forest service in particular and the asset that they have, because it really is an asset. if you go back and read a book by the gentleman named kauffman, he talks about the forest service being one of the very best agencies in the federal government, not only in terms of the way that they were structured, the way that they were able to do management, but also the fact that they returned money to the treasury every year. you're exactly right. this is a tremendous asset that

we have on our hands. stewardship contracting is different for the forest service and bureau of land management because they're able to address multiple needs under one contract, they're able to keep money locally to get that work done, they're able to actually use the sale of forest products from one part of a treatment they may be trying to accomplish on part of a particular forest stand and use some of that money to improve something somewhere else. so if the forest service wants to build a campground because there's a demand for recreational activities, they can sell timber over here and make a recreational opportunity here. if a culvert is blown out, you can use the assets right there on the ground and improve the forest. the fact of the matter is, this authority can really help the agency and help the congress in terms of trying to ensure that the assets that we have in our forests are used in the best possible way. i'd really encourage permanent reauthorization for this

important authority. >> mr. burke, you mentioned that right now unchts s dnchts a doesn't recognize that as biobase. can you tell us why that is the case? >> well, the way that -- the way the legislation has been incorporated or the regulations that have been drafted, there is language that requires that it be a new product with a certain date and if you look at products, for example, that come off of my farm, an example would be hardwood that's made into pallets, there are pallets that come from overseas that are made of hemp which compete and get the labeling and also would be what a federal agency would have to procure over and instead of the products that's made locally on my farm. and i think that's an unintended consequence of the legislation and our recommendation is that the playing field be leveled so that all biobase products,

whether they're traditional or new, would be recognized that would create more jobs and stimulate the economy. and that's particularly important in the forest industry at this time because the forest industry is still struggling with one of the worst downturns since the depression. >> similarly, i have concerns that the current rating system utilized by leadership and energy and environmental design, lead, also disadvantages forest products. do you agree with this? is that your observation? >> well, i think that what we would like to see is, again, a level playing field so that procurement can be lead or comparable or other recognized sustainable resources. so we would like to see a level playing field with respect to procurement across all of those categories. >> i've seen data suggesting that in pennsylvania we've lost

over 13500 jobs in the forestry sector over the past few years. i appreciate you mentioning that. i will soon be mentioning legislation to fix the biobase markets program to better recognize forest products and, you know, i'm obviously with the goal that this fix will help bring back or at least stabilize our job losses not just in the state of pennsylvania but throughout the country and i appreciate your earlier remarks. just check to go see if you would agree that that's a step in the right direction? >> i'll be blunt. we think that's a brilliant solution because it's cost neutral. it will stimulate markets. it will create jobs and i think it's a very wise and sound decision. >> i appreciate that. i've been called a lot of things. this may be the first time my name and brilliance has been

associated in the same statements. recognize for the purpose five minutes of questioning. mr. gibbs from ohio. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you all for coming in today. mr. dye you talk about hr 872. that's a bill i sponsored that passed out of the u.s. house of representatives in march a year ago, 2011, by a super bipartisan majority and sitting in the united states senate. i know you share my frustration. i wanted to ask you a couple things about that. you talk about the duplication, you know, getting the permits. first question on that aspect, are you starting to see delays since the -- you know, this was delayed all through last year and now the u.s.epa and states have to implement it. first question. second question, i saw there was a concern that because of this there might be pesticides used that -- in a less strength

manner. i don't know how else to say it. that we won't get a good kill of evasive species, both plants and pests, and i think you mentioned here in your testimony, you talk about, you know, would he can have problems with re-establishing forests and managing riparian areas. do you want to comment on those two areas? >> yes. >> turn your microphone on. >> the use of herbicides, all pesticides are essential in certain forestry operations to establish regeneration, new forest, and we've worked with chemicals for years and find that some are just much more effective, cost effective, and are environmentally safe and sound. and duplication of regulation does not seem to make sense. and i guess i answered question

number two first. >> yes, you did. that's fine. >> and what was your first question again? >> since, you know, the legislation hasn't passed and u.s.epa and the states now have to move forward, you know, one of the things i talked about last year was the concern that there could be literally thousands or whatever of permit applications and just overwhelm the regulatory -- you know, the agencies, epa, state and federal level. are we starting to see that, a back log, or what's happening in the permitting? >> quite frankly, i cannot answer that question right now. >> okay. >> but i can find out and will report that to the committee. >> okay. because i'm really concerned, too. it's not just pesticides here in use for -- in the forestry or the agriculture sector, but also mosquito control districts. i think we're going to see some very negative consequences this coming, you know, summer

mosquito season. another part of the question for mr. dye, i don't know if mr. burke wants to get into it. the 9th district court ruling of making forest roads point source. can you kind of explain a little bit how best management forest practices versus going to get an mps permits for a point source? how big of a problem? >> sir, being from the neighboring state of ohio, west virginia, as you may be aware, i want to cite we have an excellent program in that state and other states, surrounding states do also, very similar, where we work with the logging community and ensure that bmps are installed and bmps is basically handling water in small quantities to prevent erosion and sedimentations of the state's waters.

and all states across the nation have varying degrees of this program, but it's something that the state forestry agencies have handled for 35 years or more. we recognize the importance of it, and we feel that this is being handled and anything further would simply be duplication and added expense. >> would you agree that just going enforcing producers, farmers, whatever to go out and get npes permit and they set certain levels, you know, it doesn't really solve the problem? it would be extra burdensome regulation on them? even if they were -- and hopefully most of them are doing best management practices, it's duplication and it adds costs and paperwork? isn't that true, it wouldn't really have a significant favorable impact to get to where we want to be?