Bipartisan Tax Package Moves Through Congress
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Bipartisan Tax Package Moves Through Congress

Additional Option for Passage of Disaster Reforestation Act Tax Package Clears Initial Hurdle in the House Last week, Congressman Jason Smith (R-MO), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, announced an agreement on a framework for tax reform legislation. Read more on this…

Senators Cassidy and Warnock Prioritize Forest Landowners Bill
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Senators Cassidy and Warnock Prioritize Forest Landowners Bill

WASHINGTON, DC –The Forest Landowners Association (FLA) commends the introduction of S. 217: The Disaster Reforestation Act, bipartisan legislation designed to allow private forest landowners to recover from the loss of timber destroyed by natural disasters. The bill, sponsored by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), would provide the economic certainty that…

House Tax Bill Introduced to Help Forest Landowners Recover
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House Tax Bill Introduced to Help Forest Landowners Recover

WASHINGTON, DC –The Forest Landowners Association (FLA) commends the introduction of H.R. 655: The Disaster Reforestation Act, bipartisan legislation designed to allow private forest landowners to recover from the loss of timber destroyed by natural disasters. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) and Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), would provide economic certainty that is…

Collaborative Conservation Leads to Decision to Not List Gopher Tortoise in Eastern Segment
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Collaborative Conservation Leads to Decision to Not List Gopher Tortoise in Eastern Segment

Collaborative conservation was the cornerstone of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s finding earlier this month that listing the gopher tortoise population as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act was not warranted throughout its entire range. The populations in the eastern segment, which includes Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and most of…

FLA Asks Agencies to Carefully Consider Approach to Conserving and Defining “Old Growth”
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FLA Asks Agencies to Carefully Consider Approach to Conserving and Defining “Old Growth”

In response to President Biden’s Executive Order 14072: Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management on July 15, 2022, released a Request for Information to inform their approach to defining and conserving old growth and mature forests. While landowners can appreciate the cultural significance…

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Logging’s Ongoing Public Relations Battle

By Bob Williams Most forest landowners understand the critical role logging plays in the long-term ownership and conservation of their forest resources, both from an ecologicaland economic perspective. The Britannica definition of logging is “the process of harvesting trees, sawing them into appropriate lengths and transporting them to a sawmill.” Of course, there is some…

Agencies Propose New Tool to Measure Conservation in America
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Agencies Propose New Tool to Measure Conservation in America

In 2021, the Biden administration proposed a hefty goal of conserving 30% of America’s land and water by 2030 (called the “30 by 30” initiative, and later the America the Beautiful Initiative). With over half of forestland in the U.S. being privately owned, landowners worried what this goal might mean for their working forests. Earlier…

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Muddied Waters, as EPA Moves to Revert to Restrictive Pre-2015 WOTUS Definition

After years of muddied waters, the Trump Administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule, offered clarity and definition of what a “navigable water” is to the issue of Waters of the United States (WOTUS) and the Clean Water Act (CWA), brought relief to forest landowners, farmers, small businesses and others. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and…

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FLA Keeps Landowners Informed with “First 100 Days” Webinar Series

In conjunction with President Biden’s first 100 days in office, FLA hosted a “First 100 Days” webinar series to keep our members informed on the executive, congressional, and regulatory actions that impact private forest ownership and management. Each monthly installment in the series served to update our members on the topics they care about most:…