GOP timber plan gets chopped down

A GOP plan to raise money by logging more of the state forest has been abandoned for lack of support.

The House GOP budget proposal, released in March outlined a plan that they said would raise $25 million for the state by making significant changes to Michigan’s forestry operations.

Current state law requires the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to offer about 58,000 acres of state forest for harvest each year. The GOP plan was to increase that harvest to 100,000 acres next year and transfer timber sales to the Dept. of Agriculture, where trees would be treated as an agricultural product and logging operations would be exempted from the state business tax.

As the legislature prepares to convene a conference committee this week to hammer out a compromise budget for the DNRE, increasing timber harvest appears to be off the table. The proposal is not included in either the Senate or House appropriations bills.

“I think the House GOP simply had no traction for the idea,“ MDNRE spokeswoman Mary Dettloff said.

Rep. Mike Lahti (R-Hancock), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on DNRE, “is pretty well-versed on forestry issues and is in continual talks with our staff about forest management,” she said.

The timber plan was criticized by the Sierra Club, which called it a giveaway to industry and warned that by forcing lots of timber onto the market it would depress prices.

MDNRE Forestry Management Division Chief Lynn Boyd said that the proposal would compromise the sustainability of the state’s forest system and conflict with recreation, hunting and wildlife habitat management.

Back in April Rep. Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City) said that he supported the GOP timber plan.

“I definitely agree with that we can increase timber harvesting,” Schmidt said, adding that forestry professionals had let him know that the state has not been harvesting enough.

“A lot of red pine is becoming buggy,“ he said, and cutting more trees would reduce the risk of forest fire and be good for the budget.

Kevin Korpi is executive director of the Michigan Forest Products Council, which represents landowners, sawmills, lumber companies and manufacturers. He said that he was familiar with the proposal but that his group did not lobby for the harvest increase.

“We want a healthy forest ecosystem, actively managed lands and a stable fiber supply,“ Korpi said. “To that end I don’t recall anyone in our membership advocating for a 50 percent increase for this year.”

The MFPC, he said, would be happy to examine the possibility of expanding timber harvest on state land, however a major issue of concern for the group is the lack of attention and resources devoted to addressing forest health concerns in Michigan.

“We are seeing insects, invasive species, and species mortality at alarming rates,” he said.

Fiscal analyst Josh Sefton, compared the DNRE budget proposals for the Senate Fiscal Agency.

Increasing timber harvest by 50 percent by next year is simply not feasible, he said. “The timber marking process is a two year process.”

When the conference committee meets to reconcile the budgets, one big item they will need to address is whether to adopt the Senate’s proposal to save $8.6 million by eliminating a planned 3 percent raise for all department employees.

The House version of the bill would stop raises only for those employees that are not unionized. This version would save the state just $277,000. To make up the difference the House budget made an additional $1,354,200 in General Fund cuts to parts of the Department that would not lose federal funds as a consequence of state cuts.

The Marketing, Technology and Education Division’s share of the General Fund cut was $232,700, which means additional cuts to the Archives and Historical Museum.

The Land and Water Interface Permit Program which is responsible for hydrologic studies, dam safety operations and wetland protection is slated for a $285,000 reduction. DNRE spokesman Bob McCann said that it was too soon to say what the impact of this cut would be.

The House also restored $240,000 to the Forest Recreation program to reopen 12 state forest campgrounds closed last year.