The latest news related to the economic interests of private forest landowners and their unique natural resource assets.
FLA Supports Proposal to Include Timber Business and Forestland in IRS Guidance
FLA Supports Proposal to Include Timber Business and Forestland in IRS Business Interest Expense Limitation Guidance The Forest Landowners Association gave official comments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury Department in support of proposed changes...
U.S. Department of Commerce Lowers Duty Rate on Canadian Softwood Lumber Imports
The U.S. Department of Commerce has set a new average duty rate of 8.9 percent on Canadian softwood lumber imports. "While the U.S. Lumber Coalition has demonstrated that this calculation understates true levels of subsidies and dumping, these results nonetheless...
Longleaf Revival
Longleaf Revival - An article from the Forest Landowner Magazine * After inheriting his family’s loblolly tree farm in Virginia, Bill Owen has transformed it into the largest longleaf tract in the Commonwealth. By Pete Williams Bill Owen guides his Jeep Wrangler to a...
Longleaf Cost Share Funds Available
Are you planting longleaf pine this season? Are you burning an existing stand of longleaf? Did your lands sustain hurricane damage and you need support for replanting? The Forest Landowners Association has cost-share funds for private forest landowners available...
Wildfires, Hurricanes and Private Forests
OP ED from THE HILL by Thomas J. Straka - professor emeritus of forestry and environmental conservation at Clemson University in South Carolina. This is the season when wildfires and hurricanes often dominate the news. These natural disasters destroy the forests in...
Private Landowners’ Stewardship Yields Comeback of Red-cockaded Woodpecker
Pictured above: Regional Forester for the Southern Region of the USDA Forest Service Ken Arney, President, Crowell Forest Resources LLC, 5th generation landowner, Louisiana and FLA Gov’t Affairs Chair, Michael Crowell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Aurelia...
Comments Submitted on Strict 4(d) Rule for Neuse River Waterdog
FLA and North Carolina Members Submit Comments on Strict 4(d) Rule for Neuse River Waterdog On July 30, the USFWS re-opened the comment period for their 4(d) rule for the threatened Neuse River waterdog – an aquatic salamander native to the Neuse River in North...
Governor Ivey and Alabama Forestry Commission Announce Timber Relief Fund Program
Coronavirus Relief Grants Available to Timber Owners Impacted by Reduced Harvesting Prices During March 2020 – July 2020 Alabama forest landowners who harvested timber March 2020 through July 2020 are eligible to receive up to $10,000 in relief funds due to reduced...
The Forest Industry is Essential – So Are the Employees Who Work in It
By U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) As published in The Hill newspaper, August 19, 2020 COVID-19 has exposed many Americans to important aspects of our supply chain that, during normal times, usually go unnoticed. Forest products are a perfect example. When the...
Estimated fair market value of timber “casualty losses” for family forest owners
FLA continues to push for a legislative fix for timber casualty loss through the Forest Recovery Act. As such, we appreciate the US Forest Service's recent analysis of the estimated fair market value of loss timber from natural disasters. As reported in a briefing...
IRS Issues Business Interest Deduction Limitation Guidance
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created a limitation on the amount of interest expense that can be deducted from a business’s taxes. There are multiple exemptions to this limitation to allow a business to deduct their full interest expense. For FLA members the first...
Growing Future Forestry Leaders
Educating the next generation of forestry professionals about the important role of private forest landowners in the supply chain is an important concern for all forest landowners. The Forest Landowner Foundation scholarship program has continued to evolve, and this...
Forest Landowners Association Awards – 2020
Recognizing Outstanding Achievement Please join us in congratulating the Forest Landowners 2020 Award Winners! Nominated by their peers as being exemplars, the Forest Landowners Association’s Awards Program recognizes outstanding landowners and forestry...
Foundation Scholarship Awards 2020
Congratulations to the 2020 Forest Landowner Foundation Scholarship Recipients! Ensuring the Bright Minds of Forestry's Future The education and mentorship of new foresters is an important concern for all forest landowners. As such the Forest Landowner Foundation...
Species Work from the Midwest, to the Southeast, and onto the Pacific Northwest
Listing Decision for Pacific Fisher In November 2019, the US. Fish Service proposed to list the West Coast population of the pacific fisher as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. FLA and several of its members and partners submitted comments...
FLA Advocates to Open Large-Scale Conservation Opportunities to All Types of Forest Landowners
FLA submitted comments in the Federal Register advocating for greater access for all types of forest landowners to the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The RCPP program has traditionally supported...
FLA Message to Congress: Don’t Leave Timber Communities with A One-Two Economic Punch
Timber Communities Need Relief from Both Covid-19 And A Forecast of An Increased Natural Disasters FLA is calling for Congress to finally provide much-needed financial certainty during the COVID-19 crisis for forest farmers, ensuring rural communities that depend on a...
Impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. Forestry and Forestry Products
FLA joined the group of 12 forestry stakeholders working with Congress to urge a message of solidarity and promote priority polices to ensure a rebound in wood markets. The message of the coalition to Congress is that “No one element of the forest...
Earth Day and Arbor Day 2020: More Than a Day
The Earth Needs More Trees? We Grow Trees! Fifty years after the first Earth Day, and 148 years after the start of Arbor Day – we all have come to see the importance of trees and forests for ensuring the health and well-being of the earth and ourselves. As...
FLA Engages USDA on Cogongrass Program
FLA submitted comments to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regarding Environmental Assessment for the Cogongrass Control Program in the Southeastern United States. Our comments were in support of the Southern Groups of State Foresters’ (SGSF)...