The Hardwood Federation produces a “D.C. Cheat Sheet” e-newsletter to maintain the business up-to-date on the newest information from Washington D.C. Try the August twenty fourth version under and join to obtain your copy.
August Recess
As Congress enters the final couple of weeks of the August recess, with the Senate out till September 5 and the Home till September 12, be looking out to your federal lawmakers as they make the rounds within the states. As a reminder, within the occasion you see your elected officers, you’ll want to echo the Hardwood Federation’s key “asks”:
- Hardwood Entry and Training Program (HAP) – Establishing a hardwood schooling program, within the farm invoice for instance, kills two birds with one stone. It’ll assist develop jobs in rural communities in my state and enhance the setting.
- HAP – This program will give the business a lot wanted knowledge to assist sustainable forest administration and the optimistic advantages of utilizing wooden merchandise in house and workspaces and push again on false narratives. For particulars, click on right here.
- USDA Export Promotion – Downsizing USDA’s export promotion applications would impede our capacity to export sustainably harvested hardwood merchandise all over the world and result in clients selecting much less sustainable and legally harvested options.
- Taxes – Congress should make everlasting 100% expensing of commercial tools and the 20 p.c deduction for small enterprise. Congress also needs to restore full deductibility of enterprise bills. For particulars, click on right here.
- Transportation – Congress should cross a “provide chain package deal” that creates flexibility for truck weights, grows the dwindling pool of trucker drivers, and expedites implementation of ocean delivery reforms. For particulars, click on right here.
Hardwood Congressional Ally Sounds Alarm Over Firefighter Pay
Because the September 30 deadline quickly approaches to fund the federal authorities with no compromise on the close to horizon, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) is elevating considerations that wild firefighter pay raises from 2023 will lapse, leading to an computerized 50 p.c pay lower for frontline protection of forestland and fire-prone communities. This might set off a major walk-out from employees tasked with combatting wildfires throughout the peak of the season. Rep. Simpson (R-ID) chairs the Home committee that funds the Division of Inside and associated companies and warned representatives of the wooden merchandise business earlier this 12 months that budgetary pressures might end in deep cuts for important applications, stating that Congress ought to use a “scalpel and never a cleaver” when on the lookout for finances financial savings. The Hardwood Federation will maintain you posted on budgetary developments impacting the sector as they unfold.
Canadian Asset Agency Urges Forest Administration as Antidote to Wildfires
Within the wake of main wildfire outbreaks in Hawaii and Canada, a serious forest asset supervisor based mostly in Canada, EcoForests Asset Administration is reminding policymakers that widespread “adoption of forestry administration applications can stop uncontrolled wildfires” and mitigate “the scope and scale of damages incurred during times of drought.” Breaking forestry administration down into phrases that most people can relate to, the asset agency states that “managed forests are cleared of thick undergrowth that dries and ignites rapidly in intervals of drought” leading to a “lower than 1% loss from fires.” Based on the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. incurred $165 billion in damages from excessive climate in 2022. Extra constant adoption of forest administration would take an enormous chunk from these prices.
Supply: Hardwood Federation