Comments

By Greg Pilchak  The National Association of State Foresters submitted a letter commenting on the Senate Committee on Agriculture’s bill, the Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016. NASF commends the Committee’s leadership and initiative in trying to find a solution to the wildfire funding challenges faced by the USDA Forest Service and the [read more]

The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) submitted comments this week in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) revisions to the proposed rule for those who want to file petitions for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (81 Fed. Reg. 23448). Learn more about the revisions at https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-09200.  In July 2015, NASF submitted [read more]

Today the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers released a final rule defining waters of the United States (WOTUS), which sets the bounds of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. In November, NASF provided comment to the agencies on the proposed rule and Arkansas State Forester Joe Fox testified before the [read more]

Last week, NASF submitted comments to US Fish and Wildlife regarding the potential listing of northern long‐eared bat as an endangered species. The letter outlined concerns about regulations that may be imposed on forestland owners that will have little to no effect on the cause of the bat's diminishing numbers due to  the fungus‐caused disease, [read more]

NASF provided comments this week regarding the Standard used by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc.® (SFI®). They launched the process of revising their current standard to develop the SFI® 2015-2019 Standard in June.  SFI®  reached out to more than 10,000 stakeholders for input. In the comments, NASF spoke highly of the current SFI Standard and [read more]

Last week, NASF submitted comments to the USDA regarding their efforts to adapt to a changing climate as laid out in its 2012 Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan. The comments advanced the concepts approved by NASF as part of the policy statement, NASF Adaptation and Mitigation: Concepts for Forest-Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Legislation and Administrative Policy. [read more]

This week NASF submitted comments to GSA regarding green building certification systems. NASF asked that GSA recommend the use of inclusive green building certification systems that recognize wood as a preferred green building material, which will help stimulate the economies of rural, forest-based communities. The comments also highlighted the importance of giving equal credit to [read more]

Last week NASF submitted comments on the sixth draft of LEED standards. The comments addressed the use of sustainably sourced wood in building design and construction, interior design and construction, and existing buildings and neighborhood development, while taking into account the current draft language's exclusion of all but one certification system. NASF's comments recommend taking [read more]

NASF delivered comments alongside the NAASF regarding Advice from the FSC related to the evaluation of nurseries under the FSC standard. State forestry agencies responsibilities’ often include the operation and management of nurseries that produce millions of seedlings for reforestation efforts on both public and private forest land.  NASF comments indicated that implementation of the [read more]

On October 3, NASF submitted joint comments with the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA) to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about their notice of proposed rulemaking regarding revised stormwater regulations specific to permits not being required for stormwater discharges from logging roads. NASF and ACWA comments support EPA’s proposal that multi-sector National Pollutant Discharge [read more]