Fast Facts

Vol. 5 No. 17                                             
August 20, 2008  

FLA and the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO) Work Together

In an effort to work together on common issues, Scott Jones, FLA Executive Vice President, recently accepted a seat on the NAFO board of directors. Scott will be able to provide the Alliance with keen insight and access to small and medium size landowners represented in FLA's membership. Likewise, NAFO President Dave Tenny accepted a seat on FLA's board of directors.

 "I see NAFO as an important ally in helping FLA reach our goals in Washington" said Scott Jones, FLA Executive Vice President

Regulatory Alert
Methyl bromide and Chloropicrin are the principal products used to fumigate soil before planting nursery tree seedlings. These fumigants have been very effective for decades and as a result kept the price of tree seedlings low enough for landowners. For many uses, no single alternative to methyl bromide or Chloropicrin is available that is as effective and economical. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun a mandatory re-registration of these two chemicals. During re-registration, EPA analyzes accidents, complaints, and reports regarding the chemical and compares current rules and regulation standards with how the chemical has been regulated since first registered with EPA decades ago.

The result of this analysis will be strict new rules limiting the use of these fumigants and increasing the operating cost by many times. This will cause tree seedling nurseries to use untested experimental products, decrease the size of their planting space to accommodate new buffer zones or sustain massive losses due to infestation. The end result of this will be a higher price passed to the landowner.

Unfortunately, EPA looked at a few instances where these two chemicals were used improperly. The truth is, across the nursery seedling industry as well as the fruit and vegetables growers industries, these fumigants are used properly and responsibly without major problems.  We urge EPA to understand that a few isolated incidents are not indicative of an entire industry. Furthermore, understand that large increases in the price of tree seedlings will continue the trend of diminishing private forestland. The cost of operating and properly managing private forestland is getting out of control and many landowners are opting to sell and divide their land for other uses. America's private forestland is an underrated resource and we must protect it.

FLA is working with the EPA and Congress to correct this misjudgment. There is an open comment period with EPA until September 15, where the public, industry, and interested parties can submit comments regarding the implementation of these new rules. In the next few weeks, FLA will be organizing a letter writing campaign to EPA from private forest landowners.