ESFPA E-News

Forestry Awareness Day 2024 Overview

On Tuesday, March 5th, ESFPA held our annual Forestry Awareness Day at the Legislative Office Building in Albany. We heard some great introductory speeches from Assemblymember Lupardo, Senator Harckham, Assemblymember Glick, Commissioner Ball, and Commissioner Seggos.

Our members attended a total of 50 legislative meetings where we discussed our 2024 budget & legislative priorities. We had a total of 30 meeting participants as well as 14 shadowing Paul Smith’s students. Since the event, we have already received multiple follow-up requests for tours and further meetings from interested legislators.

Along with our legislative meetings, booths were set up in the Well by ESFPA affiliates for the purpose of education and outreach. These included the Northeastern Loggers Association, Paul Smith's College, W.J. Cox Associates, Inc., New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Rensselaer Plateau Alliance, the Nature Conservancy, New York Forest Owners Association, Adirondack Landowners Association, Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Injury, and a guest appearance from Smokey Bear.

Overall, this year's Forestry Awareness Day was a great success, and we would like to thank everyone who attended! If you have any feedback on the event, please contact gabriella@esfpa.org. 

ESFPA March 2024 Board Meeting

This week, ESFPA held our March 2024 Board Meeting at the Forestry Resource Center in Rensselaer. We are proud to announce the addition of five new Board members: Michael Haycook - Vice President & Regional Credit Leader for Farm Credit East, Ty Bowgren - Head of Procurement for the Wagner Group, Tom Gilman - Regional Manager of F&W Forestry Services, Inc., Adam Bowman - Owner of A.D. Bowman and Son Lumber Co., and Pat Sadler - Forester for WoodWise Forestry LLC. 

Additionally, longtime Board Member Chris Truso recently announced that he would be retiring from his position at Farm Credit East and from the ESFPA Board of Directors. At the meeting, Board Chair Jennifer DeFrancesco presented him with a plaque commemorating his 17 years serving on the ESFPA Board of Directors.  

We are grateful for all the work Chris Truso has done for ESFPA and wish him the best of luck in his retirement!

Women's History Month 2024

Celebrated in the month of March, Women's History Month is an annual observance to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society.

ESFPA would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all of the hardworking women who contribute to the forest and wood products industry.

ESFPA's New York Cap & Invest Comments

DEC and NYSERDA are designing a program that sets an annual cap on the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that is permitted to be emitted in New York. The declining cap ensures annual emissions are reduced, setting the state on a trajectory to meet our greenhouse gas emission reduction requirements of 40% by 2030, and at least 85% from 1990 levels by 2050, as mandated by the Climate Act. The program and regulations are referred to as the New York Cap & Invest (NYCI) program.

It’s anticipated that large-scale greenhouse gas emissions sources and distributors of heating and transportation fuels will be required to purchase or obtain allowances for the emissions associated with their activities. By applying a price to the amount of pollution, the Cap-and-Invest Program incentivizes consumers, businesses, and other entities to transition to lower-carbon alternatives. 

While we support and have continued to work with New York policy makers on the CLCPA and its implementing regulations and programs, we believe that New York forests and the sustainable wood products derived from them have been underrepresented and under accounted for in efforts to date. Our forests and the wood products derived from them are a major ecological, social, and economic resource to the people of New York and going forward they can, and in fact must be, a significant part of the formula for addressing climate change and its impacts on New York.

ESFPA has presented our comments following the outline of the NYCI Pre-Proposal. Our comments address a variety of things including balancing NYCI assessments with other GHG emission reduction measures as well as determining Emission-Intensive and Trade-Exposed Industry sensitivity in New York.

Read our full comments by clicking the link below:

ESFPA's Recent Sign-On Letters

This week, ESFPA has joined the Business Council of New York State in signing on to two of their letters which oppose the Affordable Gas Transition Act and the proposals to increase unemployment insurance benefits.

The first letter addresses the “Affordable Gas Transition Act,” or AGTA, as it is proposed in the Executive Budget. We believe the AGTA, as proposed, fails to meet the fundamental goals of avoiding imposing adverse unintended consequences; assuring an affordable, workable, and equitable clean energy transition; and providing the regulatory certainty businesses need to effectively plan for the future.

Click the link below to read the full AGTA sign-on letter:

The second letter addresses the proposals to increase unemployment insurance benefits without a significant infusion of state funds into the unemployment insurance fund.  We believe that any consideration of increased benefits needs to be done as part of a comprehensive plan to restore the state’s UI fund to financial stability and reduce UI taxes on employers.

Click the link below to read the full UI sign-on letter:

DEC Develops Plan for Adirondack Lake-Dwelling Brook Trout

From the Adirondack Explorer

State fisheries officials are developing a new plan to guide management and regulation of Adirondack brook trout that live out their lives primarily in lakes and ponds.

Though uncommon elsewhere, some Adirondack brook trout live out their lives primarily within lake or pond ecosystems. When DEC finalized a state trout stream management plan in 2020, it left unanswered questions about how the Adirondacks’ unique lake-dwelling brook trout populations would be treated.

The new trout stream plan shifted the agency’s 30-year-old approach to consider the value of naturally-reproducing trout populations when making decisions about where to stock fish. Conservationists and some anglers feared that stocking on top of wild populations could threaten the wild brook trout. That plan designated streams in part based on the quality of their wild populations. 

DEC for the past two years has shifted its attention specifically to brook trout found in scores of lakes and ponds throughout the Adirondack Park. The new plan will also aim to promote self-sustaining brook trout populations and support a stocking program for both recreation and restoration, according to a DEC statement.   

DEC has scheduled two in-person public information sessions to discuss the draft plan: March 9 from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the View Arts Center, 3273 State Route 28, Old Forge, and on March 16 from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the DEC Office, 232 Golf Course Road, Warrensburg. After the public sessions, DEC will incorporate feedback into a final draft it plans to release for formal public comment in the near future.

Click the link below to learn more: