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Executive Director
Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine
In Support of LD 737
“An Act to Promote Forest Management Planning and Certification”
March 1, 2007
Senator Perry, Representative Piotti and members of the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation, my name is Tom Doak, Executive Director of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine (SWOAM) speaking today in favor of LD 737 An Act To Promote Forest Management Planning and Certification.
SWOAM is a non-profit organization supported by woodlot owners and non-woodland owners dedicated to promoting sound forest management and strengthening long-term woodland stewardship.
When the Forest Practices Act was passed in 1989, there were a number of impacts on small woodland owners. Those changes included additional harvest notification and reporting requirements, forest regeneration requirements and limitations on certain types of harvesting. Recognizing that the Act was going to impact small woodland owners, but also the important role small woodland owners play in providing wildlife habitat, wood supply for Maine’s wood using industries as well as the contribution they make in keeping woodland as undeveloped, the Legislature moved to help in two significant ways. One of these was to create a $200 tax credit for woodland owners toward the cost of having a licensed forester prepare a long-term management plan. (Incidentally for the other initiative – a requirement in statute that there be at least one landowner-assistance Maine Forest Service forester in each county to help small woodland owners -was never implemented due to significant budget reductions. Several years ago, that requirement was removed from the statutes).
The tax credit toward a management plan of $200 was established more than 15 years ago and has never been increased. At the same time, assistance available to small woodland owners from government sources and forest industry sources has shrunk due to budget issues and restructuring of the forest industry. All this has taken place as the number of small woodland owners continues to increase. The cost of a management plan can vary greatly, based upon size of the parcel, how complicated the management will be, what legal restrictions exist and many more factors. For a 100-acre parcel, the simplest of management plans can be several hundred dollars, but costs can quickly rise to several thousands for those with more challenging situations.
Recently the idea of forest certification has gained ground. Simply put, under forest certification, landowners commit to following a set of sustainability standards from one or more private certification systems and are subject to independent audits. In return, landowners have additional assurance that their management is sustainable and hope that their efforts will results in greater return for their products when they have a timber sale. Governor Baldacci launched a major initiative to significantly increase the amount of certified woodland and forest products in part as a way to distinguish Maine in the marketplace.
SWOAM operates the largest pool of sustainably managed 3rd party certified small woodland owners in Maine. We know from our experience that there are thousands of additional small woodland owners who are interested in certification, but are concerned about its costs. All certification systems require a detailed forest management plan. In addition, in the case of our pool of certified landowners, each pays an annual fee toward maintaining their certified status ranging from fifty to several hundred dollars per year. While we all hope that certification will result in more value for a woodland owner’s wood in the marketplace, the reality is that certification is almost always a net cost to landowners.
With this as background, we strongly support raising the tax credit to help offset some of the costs of a forest management plan and allowing forest certification costs to count toward qualification of the credit.
The greatest value of the tax credit is as an encouragement for a woodlot owner to interact with a professional forester. Currently only about 25% of small woodland owners have a forester involved at the time of harvest. We know that woodlot owners who have that interaction are more likely to take a keen interest in the future of their property and manage it well. Landowners engaged and interested in their property are much more likely to keep their land as forestland instead of selling it for development.
We urge you to pass this legislation.
