Thanks to the DNR’s Meg Hanisch and Keith Jacobson for sharing the Division of Forestry’s summary of major 2008 legislative outcomes affecting our state’s forests.
Vital Forest/Vital Communities partners and programs had a positive impact on a number of the funding and policy decisions, including the appropriation for Forest Legacy conservation easements, the allocation to the Minnesota Forest Resources Council for a study of policy tools for preventing forest fragmentation and parcelization (co-funded by Blandin Foundation), the Minnesota Forests for the Future program and adjustments in the way sustainably managed woodlands are taxed.
Changing the way our woodlands are accessed and taxed was one of the key recommendations identified by participants in the 2006 and 2007 Family Forest Stewardship conferences as part of a strategy to achieve the goal, embraced by over 20 organizations, to increase the number of acres of family forestland with Forest Stewardship Management Plans from 1.3 million to 2.3 million by 2015.
Congratulations are particularly in order to Bruce ZumBahlen, his colleagues at the Minnesota Forestry Association, Jeff Forester and the Minnesota Seasonal Recreational Property Owners Association and Tom Kroll for their hard work on helping achieve these improvements to the Omnibus Tax Bill. Your vision, collaboration, and tenacity made it happen!
