ESFPA E-News

Tom Gerow Selected to Receive Neil B. Gutchess Award

This week, ESFPA held our 2023 holiday party followed by our year end Board of Directors Meeting. During this time, we were proud to present the Neil B. Gutchess Award to Tom Gerow, who has recently announced his retirement after his impressive career working for Wagner Lumber. This award recognizes individuals and/or organizations who make outstanding contributions to the forests and wood products industry in New York State and beyond. Tom Gerow has truly been the embodiment of what this award means, and we are grateful for everything he has done for ESFPA. We would like to congratulate him on receiving this award and wish him the best of luck in his retirement!!

S.4859-A/A.5682-A, The New York Tropical Deforestation-Free Procurement Act – Request for Veto

ESFPA continues to voice its opposition to S.4859-A/A.5682-A the Tropical Deforestation-Free Procurement Act. The bill was sent to the Governor on Tuesday for her signature or veto.  While we aware of recent discussions with the legislature to remedy various concerns with provisions of the bill, we remain entirely opposed to S.4859-A/A.5682-A as drafted.  We are grateful to the Governor’s office’s efforts to ameliorate its substantial impacts on the forest and paper industry.

This bill, in its current form, would create trickle-down effects for our industry’s circular supply chain. It also raises serious questions on the trade restrictive approach to forest management.  This legislation is unnecessary because tropical deforestation is already banned in New York and supply chains are already required to be transparent under existing international and industry standards.

Despite the bill’s title, the bill would require certification of products that do not originate from land where tropical deforestation occurred. North American producers can certify sourcing wood from responsibly managed forests. The added layer of administrative burden to be imposed by this bill puts our industry at a competitive disadvantage.

Until the significant, amendments are addressed, we are constrained to respectfully request the Governor’s VETO of S 4859-A/A.5682-A.  The Governor has until 5 p.m. on December 22^nd to act on the Bill.

Forest Management and Carbon Removal

Yale scientists contributed options for carbon dioxide removal in the U.S. that emphasize the importance of forests in the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A case study from southern New England and southeastern New York revealed the key role of regenerative silvicultural practices in the region.

The case study found: “In southern New England as well as southeastern New York, applying regenerative silvicultural practices to promote the growth of diverse forests and to build forest resilience to natural disturbances on 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) of hardwood forestlands could provide up to 68 million tonnes of cumulative carbon dioxide removal, including carbon stored in wood products and avoided emissions benefits, by 2050.”

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