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12 th Annual NIPF Foresters Workshop The Family Forest Foundation

12 th Annual NIPF Foresters Workshop The Family Forest Foundation Steve Stinson, Executive Director January 23 rd 2004 Westcoast Ridpath Hotel Spokane WA. Family Forest Foundation. Committed to the conservation and prosperity of the family forest.

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12 th Annual NIPF Foresters Workshop The Family Forest Foundation

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  1. 12th Annual NIPF Foresters Workshop The Family Forest Foundation Steve Stinson, Executive Director January 23rd 2004 Westcoast Ridpath Hotel Spokane WA

  2. Family Forest Foundation Committed to the conservation and prosperity of the family forest

  3. Mission:To promote the conservation and prosperity of family forests • Promote regulatory stability for family forests • Broaden consumer's awareness of the public values provided by family forests • Improve market access for products produced from family forests • Establish an enduring fiscal foundation for the conservation of family forests

  4. Action Plan Issue: Increasing Regulatory Burdens Goal: Promote Regulatory Stability Objective: Family Forest Habitat Conservation Plan

  5. Endangered Species Act • Passed 1973 • 1263 US species listed as of August 12, 2003 • In Washington State • 26 Endangered • 11 Threatened • 10 Sensitive • 118 Candidate Species

  6. Habitat Conservation Plan • In 1982, Congress amended the ESA and a provision in Section 10 that allows for the “incidental take” • Incidental take – “incidental to and not the purpose of, the carrying out of an otherwise lawful activity” • As of August 12, 2003 450 HCPs have been approved, not one for a Family Forest landowner

  7. Need for Family Forest HCP • Regulatory Instability • Disproportionate Impact of Broad brush regulation • Time and Personnel • Expense

  8. Streams 16,628 Miles of streams in Lewis County 1620 Miles on Family Forestland 493 Miles of potential fish bearing streams

  9. Family Forest Habitat Conservation Plan • First of its kind: multi-species, multi-landowner HCP • Provides a scientifically credible long-term management plan • Provides for regulatory stability and management flexibility • Pilot project that could be used as a template throughout Washington State or the nation

  10. Family Forest Foundation Lewis County US Fish and Wildlife Service NOAA Fisheries WA DNR Forest Practices Division WA DNR Stewardship Program Rural Technology Initiative WSU Cooperative Extension Cowlitz Tribe Chehalis Tribe Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Biota Pacific/R2 Perkins Coie FFHCP Partners

  11. How will it work? • Voluntary Participation • Suite of scenarios to choose from • Implementation Plan for specific properties • Receive Certificate of Inclusion (Programmatic Approach) • FFHCP prescriptions are substituted for the applicable Forest Practices Rules

  12. FFHCP Progress to date (cont.) • Relationship with Lewis County • BOCC and legal counsel supports FFHCP concept • County pursuing permit holder status • Using Geographic Information Systems • Developed database of family forest demographics • Created a database on ecological characteristics of family forestland in Lewis County

  13. FFHCP Progress to date (cont.) • FFHCP project coordinator position has been funded in Lewis County • Secured USFWS Section 6 funds for development of HCP document • Secured Payment to County funds for Pilot Implementation Plans and coached planning courses

  14. What’s Next • Complete riparian and upland prescriptions • Independent Scientific Panel Review of science supporting conservation measures • Develop pilot implementation plans and coached planning sessions • Complete and negotiate final HCP document • Implement FFHCP in partnership with Lewis County

  15. Action Plan Issue: Loss of Markets for Wood Products Goal: Provide Market Access for Products from Family Forests Objective: Marketing Entity and/or Manufacturing Facility

  16. Questions: Can a coop improve market access? Can a coop provide better services? Can a coop reduce operating expenses? Marketing Feasibility Study Tasks: • Landowner Survey • Potential markets • Business structure • Supporting Resources • Landowner outreach • Visit forestry coops • Feasibility study report

  17. Forestry Coops • Innovative technologies • Direct marketing • Product branding • Equipment sharing • Member owned • Value-added processing • Landowner services • Eco-tourism • Utilizing low-value species

  18. Forestry Coops Across the United StatesWestern Upper Peninsula Forest Improvement DistrictHancock, Michigan Overview: • Began as state-funded agency in 1985 • Currently a self-funded landowner coop • Membership:1,000 landowners (150,000 acres) • All ownerships (20-15,000 acres) • Improve high-graded forests • Provide forest management and marketing services

  19. Forestry Coops Across the United StatesWestern Upper Peninsula Forest Improvement DistrictHancock, Michigan Strategies: • Began as state-funded pilot project • Regional approach to forest improvement • Inventory forestlands • Develop management plans • Coordinate timber harvests • Manage sort yard/market logs • SFI certified

  20. Forestry Coops Across the United StatesWestern Upper Peninsula Forest Improvement DistrictHancock, Michigan Lessons learned: • Do not be grant dependant • Adequate membership dues • Provide wider range of services to maintain landowner interest • Value-added processing may provide higher returns

  21. Forestry Coops Across the United StatesNorth Quabbin WoodsOrange, Massachusetts Overview: • Develop regional identity • Develop brand recognition for regional forest products • Market regionally labeled forest products • Eco-tourism • Make connections between producer, manufacturers and consumers more efficient • Landowner and public education programs

  22. Forestry Coops Across the United StatesNorth Quabbin WoodsOrange, Massachusetts Strategies: • Educational programs for landowners & public • Eco-tourism • Forest management planning • Administer “working forest conservation easements”

  23. Forestry Coops Across the United StatesVermont Family ForestsBristol, Vermont Overview: • Non-profit + LLC • Began as watershed organization • Primary goal: healthy watersheds • 31 parcels, 4,700 acres • Educational programs • Value-added processing • Seek high-end markets • Market self-branded forest products

  24. Utilize existing resources Innovative technologies Eco-tourism Regional brand/identity Start slow, don’t over capitalize Non-profit coop + for-profit LLC Direct market to consumer Don’t compete in commodity market Database for tracking inventory Provide source of reliable management services Landowners must be involved in development of business plan Don’t be grant dependent Seek start-up funds from membership Value-added processing keeps more value in coop Be creative with low-value species/grades Forestry CoopsSummary

  25. Next Steps • Complete Feasibility Study • Quantify potential volume of products • Develop Management Plans • Research Potential Business Models and Investors

  26. Action Plan Issue: Rural/Urban Paradigm’s Goal: Broaden Consumers’ Perspective on Forestry Issues Objective One: Develop Series of White Papers Objective Two: Develop a Speakers Guild Objective Three: Foster the Development of Forest Policy

  27. How Many Family Forest Landowners Are There? • 22,000 in county forest tax classification • An estimated 2.6 million acres unaccounted for • Average parcel size from tabular data set is 43 acres • Approximately 65,000 additional owners • An estimated 97,000 family forest owners in WA

  28. Accuracy of GIS Reporting

  29. Western Washington NIPF Conversion to Non-forest Use • 100 Acres a Day • 56 Square Miles a Year Source: WA Department of Natural Resources 1998. Our Changing Nature. WA Department of Natural Resources, Olympia WA

  30. What Makes Family Forest Landowners Unique? • Location of ownership • Urban/Rural interface • Lower in watershed • Scale of ownership • Economies of scale increase operations cost • No Staff for technical, legal, financial advice • Disproportionately impacted by “broad brush” Forest Practices Regulations

  31. What Makes Family Forest Landowners Unique? (cont.) • Diverse Management Styles • Not constrained by corporate profit standards • Many reason for owning forestland – love of land, heritage, legacy, investment, wildlife, recreation • Longer rotations and smaller harvest units • Generational change fragments ownership (every 30 years on average) • 90% of currently listed endangered species depend on private forestland for some of their habitat needs

  32. Lewis County NIPF Landowners • 2169 NIPF Landowners • 136,353 Acres • Ownership Acreage • <21 Acres: 29% • 21-50 Acres: 31% • 51-100 Acres: 19% • 101-500 Acres: 18% • >500 Acres: 3% • Target Audience • >50 Acres • 556 NIPF Landowners • 56,481 Acres

  33. LC Forest Landowner Survey

  34. LC Forest Landowner Survey

  35. LC Forest Landowner Survey

  36. Action Plan Issue: Financially Stable Entity is Needed to Ensure Long-term Maintenance of Family Forest Conservation Efforts Goal: Create a Sufficient Endowment and Matching Grant Fund Objective: Provide a Financially Stable Resource to Promote the Conservation of Family Forests

  37. Family Forest Foundation Fund Raising • Regulatory Stability (FFHCP) • 2001 Interior Appropriations • 2003 USFWS Sec 6 Funds • 2003 WA DNR • 2003 Lewis County

  38. Family Forest Foundation Fund Raising • Market Access • USDA Cooperative Feasibility Study • Consumer Awareness • Weyerhaeuser Foundation Outreach • Locally contributed Matching Funds • Endowment Fund

  39. Criteria For Successful Family Forest Management Policy

  40. Family Forest Foundation Board of Directors Contact the Foundation at www.familyforestfoundation.org PO Box 1364 Chehalis, WA 98532 Phone: 360-345-0123 or e-mail at contact@familyforestfoundation.org

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