Gov. Tom Wolf Tuesday applauded the work of DCNR’s Green Ribbon Task Force, a panel of forestry experts from private, public and academic sectors, that has been meeting regularly since January to analyze current limitations to forest conservation and job growth, and to develop an action plan to address both objectives.

The Task Force issued its Final Report to the Governor making 5 key recommendations--

1. Adopt a statewide forest conservation easement program to conserve privately owned forestland while preserving access for sustainable timbering and other forest-dependent activities that support good jobs. A $200 million bond initiative would conserve 160,000 forested acres, slowing forest fragmentation, parcelization, and land conversions. A related recommendation is to create a Forest Cooperative Areas program through legislation, similar to existing Agricultural Security Areas, to enable adjacent forest landowners to manage their lands cooperatively in larger tracts that could be prioritized for easements,carbon offset programs, timber access, and other benefits. Conservation groups, the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association (PFPA), forest products industry representatives, DCNR, and the PA Department of Agriculture (PDA) should collaborate to make this happen.

2. Establish a carbon offset program to attract a pool of voluntary contributions to  nance forest conservation and improved management of private forests. Examples around the country demonstrate that individuals and companies are willing to donate money to conserve forests and the bene ts they provide, including carbon sequestration. Existing forest bank models operate in two ways: raising voluntary carbon offset funds to support community reforestation, urban tree planting, and private forest conservation and management; and establishing a program that pays landowners an annuity based on the long-term value of their timber. These models would also create demand for professional foresters. The conservation community should lead this effort, and industry, government, and conservation groups should work together to establish a model program in Pennsylvania.

3. Revise the current Clean and Green and Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) programs to support forest communities and ensure forest conservation is compatible with other needs. At the time that the task force was convened, members discussed a recommendation to increase PILT payments to counties, townships, and school districts – then, $3.60/acre total. In July 2016, a budget was signed that will increase these payments to $6/acre starting July 2017. House Bill 806 was also adopted and signed in July 2016, addressing an inequity in Clean and Green by ensuring that timber values will not exceed the county’s appraised value for a forested parcel enrolled in the program. The task force recommended additional improvements to Clean and Green, including requiring forest stewardship plans for newly enrolled parcels to improve forest management. PFPA, PDA, DCNR, and conservation groups should work together.

4. Provide additional funding to combat invasive plant and pest damage and adopt a plant

labeling program to ensure that consumers don’t inadvertently contribute to the spread of invasive species. Recognizing the alarming advance of invasive plant and pest species in Pennsylvania, their ecological and economic threat, and current inadequate resources to address them, the task force strongly recommended two interrelated ways to address this need. First, boost annual funding for the multi-agency Pennsylvania Invasive Species Council (PISC), increasing its current annual budget of $45,000 from contributing agencies plus funding from PDA to a sustainable annual budget of $110,000 for a full-time coordinator. In addition, a $500,000 rapid response fund would enable state agencies and partners to tackle immediate threats such as hydrilla in lakes, as well as future threats. A related recommendation, modeled on a similar program in Maryland, is to adopt a tiered system of categorizing damaging invasive plants: those restricted from general sale and those allowed, but with a warning label to educate consumers. PDA and PISC should lead this effort.

5. Adopt legislation and identify funding to enable DCNR to assist the U.S. Forest Service in increasing management activities on the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). Legislation is needed to speci cally grant DCNR the authority to enter into a Good Neighbor Agreement (a program of the federal Farm Bill) with the U.S. Forest Service to enable state collaboration on federal lands located within the commonwealth. This would allow state partners to assist in planning, timber harvest management, and other resource management activities that the ANF

is struggling to address with current resource levels. Funding to support this management assistance, either through conservation investment funds to be paid back or additional support through the state budget, would help DCNR provide this assistance. DCNR, the PA Game Commission (PGC), and ANF should work together to make this happen.

“Prioritizing conservation and job growth related to this field is vital to creating a sustainable, dynamic industry in this state where almost 60 percent is forested,” Gov. Wolf said. “One of Pennsylvania’s greatest strengths is our natural resources, and this group’s strength is the expertise and commitment you folks have demonstrated the past nine months.”

The Green Ribbon Task Force was called together following extended discussion between Gov. Wolf and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn on how Pennsylvania’s nearly 17 million acres of forestland could best play an active role in his call for statewide job creation.

”The panel’s report represents eight months of hard work by the 35 task force members and many agency staff and experts,” Dunn said. “It represents dozens of hours in all-day meetings, work group calls, field trips to see first-hand our forest products industry, lumber yards, manufacturing plants, our forests, and more. This collaborative effort among agencies and different stakeholder groups has taught us about each other’s work, problems, lives, and passions.

“It has also produced better and more workable recommendations. We have learned from each other, and are making plans to keep working together to address the many issues we’ve raised and to put our recommendations into action.”

Meeting at the governor’s invitation at his Harrisburg residence, at least 30 participants had been selected by DCNR and the state departments of Agriculture and Community and Economic Development.

They were addressed Tuesday by Gov. Wolf, Dunn and other key speakers, including: Daniel Devlin, state forester and director of DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry; Russell Redding, Secretary of Agriculture; Dr. Jim Finley, director of the Center for Private Forests and Pennsylvania Extension Forester;  Paul Lyskava, executive director, PA Forest Products Association; and Wayne Bender, acting executive director, Hardwoods Development Council.

Individual workgroups had been formed, introduced and assigned study and discussion areas that included: conservation; workforce development and jobs; economic development and products. Each work group’s responsibilities include:

Address the current state of the forest and forest products industry; define the scope of the workgroup; identify issues to address; develop recommendations to bring to the larger group; and work with other workgroups to integrate and forge recommendations into a final set.

Since its formation January 7, the task force has held monthly meetings, and individual work groups also met to discuss issues in greater detail and formulate recommended action items.

Workgroup chairs then reported out on their groups’ progress to the larger task force, in order to stimulate broader discussion.

A copy of the report is available online.

For more information, visit DCNR’s Green Ribbon Task Force webpage.

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10/31/2016