Board of Forestry Meeting, April 14, 2017

(Anchorage, AK) - The public is invited to participate in a Board of Forestry meeting in Ketchikan on Friday, April 14 to discuss statewide forestry issues. The meeting will run from 8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. and a draft agenda is posted at http://forestry.alaska.gov/whatsnew.htm.

Topics for the board meeting will include: 

• FY2017-18 forestry, forest practices, and monitoring budgets and options for alternative funding sources for Forest Resources and Practice Act implementation;

• Annual state agency reports on Forest Resources and Practices Act effectiveness and development of the Board’s annual report to the Governor;

• Annual reports on compliance monitoring and effectiveness monitoring;

• State and federal statutory and regulatory proposals related to forest operations in Alaska, including regulations for small negotiated sales under 11 AAC 71.045(e), state fees, and new reforestation standards in Interior and Southcentral Alaska;

• Coastal forest management issues including reports on national forest planning, federal timber sales, Roadless Rule implementation, the Mental Health Trust land exchange, young-growth inventory, work force development projects, and the state-federal Good Neighbor agreement;

• Forest management planning and timber sale planning and appeals on state land;

• Wood energy projects in Alaska;

• Forest sustainability verification;

• The Hoonah watershed project and lidar use; and

• Challenges facing the primary forest product sector.

  Other forestry matters may be included on the agenda. The meeting is intended to comply with the requirements of AS 41.17.047(b) and (d).  Public comment is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. 

  The Board of Forestry meeting will be held in the Shaa Hit conference room at the Cape Fox Lodge, 800 Venetia Way, Ketchikan.  Teleconference call-in locations will be available in three communities as listed below:

• Juneau:  DNR 4^th floor conference room A, 400 Willoughby Ave

• Anchorage:  Division of Forestry conference room, 550 W. 7^th Avenue, Suite 1450 

• Fairbanks:  Department of Natural Resources large conference room, 3700 Airport Way

  Anyone outside of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, or Ketchikan who would like to participate in the teleconference should contact Marty Freeman at the Division of Forestry in Anchorage at marty.freeman@alaska.gov or call at 907-269-8467 no later than 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10.   If no one has contacted Marty and no one is present at a teleconference site by 9 a.m., the teleconference may be terminated at that site.

  A copy of the agenda is attached below.  For additional information about the meeting, or for special accommodations due to audio or visual impairment, contact Marty using the contact information below. Any individuals wishing to receive announcements of future Board of Forestry meetings by e-mail or in hard copy should contact Marty to be added to the mailing list.  

CONTACT: Marty Freeman, 269-8467, marty.freeman@alaska.gov