What is the Future of Wood? Come to the Forest Alliance Annual Meeting on October 26th and Find Out!
The Massachusetts Forest Alliance will hold its Annual Meeting and Workshops at Greenfield Community College on Saturday, October 26th.
With a theme of “The Future of Wood,” it will include discussions of new wood products and technologies that will influence wood markets in the years ahead, and workshops on topics such as forest health, timber taxes, carbon credits and laws affecting forestry.
If you are interested in forests and forestry, you will be sure to find something of interest at the Annual Meeting, so plan to be in Greenfield on October 26th!
At the noontime luncheon, the Alliance will present awards for the Doug Cook Wood Producer of the Year, Howard Mason Forester of the Year, Friend of Forestry, the Jack Lambert, Jr. Forest Stewardship Award, and the Aldo Leopold Conservation Award.
The cost to attend the Annual Meeting is $50 for MFA members, $75 for non-members.
You can register online at: https://mfa-annual-meeting-2019.eventbrite.com
or you can download a paper registration form at https://drive.google.com/file/d/10btaWLe8XasG-2M-_Cvn7xgcCrCmu9rE/view?usp=sharing and send it in with a check for the required amount.
Annual Meeting Schedule
8:00-9:00 Registration/Coffee/Exhibitors/Silent Auction
9:00-9:15 Welcome/Exhibitor Intro
9:15–10:15 New and Emerging Wood Markets – Charles Levesque, Innovative Natural Resource Solutions
A discussion of the newest and future wood products, and how they might affect markets and wood demand in Massachusetts
10:15-10:45 Exhibitors
10:45-11:45 Workshop Block 1 (3 workshop choices)
- Timber Taxes – An examination of timber taxes incurred with a timber sale, and strategies for minimizing the tax burden for landowners – presented by Linda Wang, USFS Timber Tax Specialist
- Forest Health Issues – The latest news on forest health, including new and emerging threats – presented by Felicia Hubacz, DCR Forest Health
- Laws affecting Forest Management Projects, including easements by prescription, titles by adverse possession, and rights of way – presented by attorney Syd Smithers
11:45-12:00 Council Meetings
The Foresters Council and the Wood Producers Council will meet and discuss future plans and programming for foresters and timber harvesters
12:00-1:30 Awards Luncheon
Award Presentations:
- Aldo Leopold New England Conservation Award
- Douglas B. Cook Wood Producer of the Year Award
- Howard F. Mason Forester of the Year Award
- Friend of Forestry Award
- John H. Lambert, Jr. Forest Stewardship Award
1:30-2:00 MFA Business Meeting/Exhibitors/Silent Auction
2:00-3:00 Workshop Block 2 (3 workshop choices)
- New England Forestry Foundation’s PTIF – A discussion of the Pooled Timber Income Fund for landowners to consider as a tax/investment strategy – presented by Bob Perschel, NEFF
- Carbon Credits – A discussion of the Tri-City carbon credit program in Massachusetts, and the potential future for forest landowners – presented by Keith Ross, Landvest; Mark Noonan, West Springfield; and Josh Strauss, Bluesource
- Landowner Roundtable – A discussion of landowner education needs and the future of the Massachusetts Forest Trust – presented by Charlie Thompson, MFA/MFT Board
3:00-4:00 Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Panel Discussion with NEFF’s Jennifer Shakun, UMass Amherst’s Dr. Peggi Clouston, and Jeff Hutchins of Travirke, LLC
Panel discussion of mass timber technologies:
- Jennifer Shakun from New England Forestry Foundation will talk about their Build It With Wood program and the significant carbon benefits of building taller wooden buildings that technology now allows
- Dr. Peggi Clouston from UMass Amhest will highlight the innovative structural use of wood in the John W. Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst – a four-story structure that demonstrates leading-edge mass timber technologies – and discuss her recent and ongoing research on developing CLT panels from local Massachusetts species
- Jeff Hutchins from Travirke, LLC will discuss regional efforts to develop local markets for cross-laminated timber, providing an overview of projected demand levels for CLT for the next five years and an analysis of how increasing demand in the northeast could lead to investment in local CLT manufacturing and the impact that could have on local wood markets
4:00 Closing/Continuing Education Certificates
The Annual Meeting has been approved for 3.0 Mass Forester Continuing Education Credits in Category I, and 1.5 Mass CFEs in Category II, 4.5 Mass Timber Harvester Continuing Education Credits, and 2.5 Connecticut Forester CEUs. SAF CFEs are pending.