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ESFPA E-News
Volume 6 - Issue 7
February 18th, 2025
OCP Campaign: Trade Tariffs and Loss of Export Funding
Recent tariffs are creating an incredibly unpredictable marketplace and supply and demand situation that make business very unpredictable. Additionally, the claw back of Congressionally appropriated funds for programs have interrupted important marketing programs and strategies that benefit U.S. exporters.
These tariffs and the loss of export promotion funding are both pertinent issues that have the potential to negatively impact businesses in the foreign export market of wood products.
We need your help in asking your Congressional Representative to help address these issues. Your voice can make a significant difference in ensuring our industry’s continued support and success!
Click the link below to join the advocacy campaign. Please edit the portions of email that are in parentheses to reflect your personal information.
Forestry Awareness Day 2025 Registration
This year's Forestry Awareness Day will be held on Tuesday, March 4th, 2025. The event will be in the Well at the Legislative Office Building in Albany. As many of you already know, Forestry Awareness Day gives ESFPA members the opportunity to put a face on our forests and wood product manufacturing sector; educating legislators and policy makers on the importance of forests and harvested wood products, and the contribution we have in New York's economy, environment, and the quality of life of all New Yorkers.
We will have more details available in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned and keep an eye out for updates!
Preliminary information:
- All meetings will have an assigned leader
- Meetings will be in 30-minute time slots
- Our issue sheets will be released in the upcoming weeks
- Registration is required
- If you will be purchasing breakfast/lunch through ESFPA, the cost is $25 and can be paid through the registration form
Your voice is needed to help make a difference! Register today:
Be on the Lookout for Invasive Red Pine Scale
DEC’s Forest Health Research Lab recently confirmed the presence of red pine scale, an invasive insect, in Hague, NY and in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness in Adirondack Park. Native to Japan, red pine scale was first detected in New York on Long Island in 1950. Red pine scale nymphs feed on a red pine tree’s sap, eventually causing the tree to die. Infestations can be identified by the insects’ cocoons, which look like white, woolly masses around the base of red pine needles.
Until 2024, red pine scale had not been identified in upstate New York, possibly because colder temperatures kept populations low enough to remain undetected. However, increased winter temperatures could cause red pine scale to expand its range northward. DEC plans to conduct surveys in 2025 to determine the locations and abundance of red pine scale in New York.
If you see signs of red pine scale, send pictures and location information to foresthealth@dec.ny.gov. For more information on red pine scale, visit the Vermont Invasives website.
Report Suspected Cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Wild Birds
A new online platform for the public to report suspected Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreaks in wild birds was designed as part of an ongoing effort to monitor HPAI in New York. NYSDEC Avian Influenza Report Form
HPAI is widespread in wild birds and mammals, so not all reports will result in DEC retrieving the animals for testing and/or disposal. The public can help minimize risk and limit disease spread by preventing contact between domestic animals and wild birds.
If you encounter a live, sick bird or mammal, contact your Regional DEC office or a local wildlife rehabilitator for guidance. Call ahead to make sure there is a wildlife rehabilitator or veterinarian willing to accept the animal, as accepting these animals may put other animals in the facility at risk. Do not handle, transport, or euthanize any sick birds or other wildlife yourself.
In cases where DEC field staff are not responding to collect samples or carcasses from the landscape, please limit direct contact with dead wildlife and keep children and pets away. To dispose of a dead bird safely:
- Wear disposable gloves, a mask, and eye protection, like safety glasses or goggles.
- Avoid direct contact with the carcass or carcass fluids by using a shovel or a garbage bag to pick up the bird.
- Carcasses should be triple bagged (garbage or contractor bags) and placed in an outdoor trash receptacle.
- Remove and throw away your gloves. Wash your hands with soap and water immediately after removing gloves.
- Change your clothes and wash them after disposing of the bird.
- If you used a shovel, clean it with hot, soapy water and disinfect it with diluted bleach (1/3 cup bleach added to a gallon of water).
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that recent HPAI detections in birds pose a low risk to the public. While there is likely little risk for the public, people with close or prolonged unprotected contact with infected birds or virus-contaminated environments are at greater risk of infection.
More information about HPAI, including how it is spread and which animals can be infected, is available on our Animal Diseases webpage Animal Diseases - NYSDEC and in the full press release.
Stream Permits and Wetlands
In late January we submitted our comments on the Freshwater Wetlands Permit which you can see here. But DEC has also posted an amendment to the General Permit for Stream Crossings associated with logging and timber harvesting in the Environmental Notice Bulletin. DEC has proposed modifications to the General Permits for Stream Crossings associated with logging activities (GP-0-23-004 and GP-0-23-005) that were reauthorized last fall (with no changes) to change it relative to “Prohibited Activities. Under 3. Prohibited Activities item c. was removed which prohibited the “Crossings located within state regulated freshwater wetlands and adjacent areas.”
This reflects concerns we raised regarding silvicultural exemptions under the 2022 Freshwater Wetland Act Amendments and specifically addresses the placement of temporary bridges. If you recall following the implementation of the new wetland regulations on January 1, 2025, we began to see a number of stream crossing permits require wetland jurisdictional inquiries. Removing this “prohibited activity” should stop this and reflects what we had always expected under the wetland exemption.
See the proposed changes here: Proposed General Permits - NYSDEC. The other proposed general permits do not impact our activities and are more oriented to development activities.
There are small victories!
Manufacturing Stormwater General Permits
In the February 3rd Federal Register, the US Environmental Protection Agency extended the public comment period until April 4th for three proposed actions. These are the Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) for stormwater discharges from industrial activities for which many of our mills are subject to. See the overall summary of changes here. One of those is the stormwater discharges from the timber products sector (log storage, sawmills and wood preservation) which can be found here. New to these regulations will be extensive monitoring for PFAs in stormwater discharges.
New York will be looking to adopt these regulations as well as additional requirements which may come from New York specific legislative proposals which have been floating for a couple of years now. We will work with our national affiliates on responses to the federal permit changes and be commenting on New York specific changes as they are developed in the future.
Resilience in Action: Addressing Climate Challenges in the Adirondacks
May 15th & 16th, 2025 - High Peaks Resort, Lake Placid, NY
The Adirondack Research Consortium invites scholars, practitioners, and researchers to present their work at the 29th Annual Conference on the Adirondacks. Submit an abstract for a paper or poster presentation by February 28th, 2025. If a paper is not accepted, you are invited to present a poster. Decisions will be communicated by March 14th, 2025.
Submissions are welcome across disciplines: Natural Sciences; Business & Economics; Social Sciences; and Humanities & Arts. Please submit abstracts electronically to: adkresearchconsortium@gmail.com. Presenters are asked to register for the Conference. Also, consider submitting your work to the Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies (AJES). Contact Dr. Joseph Henderson (jhenderson@paulsmiths.edu) or Dr. Ellen Kraly (ekraly@colgate.edu) for details.
See also:
Webinar Opportunity to hear from Donna DeCarolis, National Fuel Gas Distribution President, on NYS Energy Future
Feb 19, 2025 - 12:00PM EST
Join Donna DeCarolis, President of National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation, for part two of a two-part conversation on the status of the New York’s energy transition goals and proposed policies coming out of Albany that will impact the way we all live and work. These issues deserve everyone’s attention to preserve energy choice and to pursue emissions reductions responsibly with a focus on reliability.
Click the link below to join the webinar:
