Kentucky-Tennessee Society of American Foresters
Business Meeting, January 22, 2004
Lake Barkley State Resort Park, Kentucky
Meeting called to order by KT Society Chair, Red Anderson, with approximately 40 members present at 3:10 p.m.
Red Anderson complimented the East Kentucky Chapter on planning and organizing an outstanding Winter Meeting.
Red introduced Bob Cunningham, District Nine Council Member, and asked him to comment on himself and his role in the SAF.
Minutes of previous Business Meeting (see attached) were passed out, discussed, and approved. Gary Schneider moved, and Jeff Holt seconded.
2003 Year-End Financial Statement was passed out, discussed, and approved (see attached).
Proposed 2004 Budget was passed out, discussed, and approved (see attached). George Hopper moved, and Bob Volk seconded.
Red Anderson reiterated his challenge for members to match his personal donation of $200.00 to the Leadership Academy. Discussion followed concerning whether money collected from this challenge should be sent directly to SAF or whether it should be held in our account as part of the $3,000.00 budgeted for sending delegates to the SAF Leadership Academy. John Rennie moved that any funds collected by the end of this week as a result of Red Anderson’s challenge be sent directly to SAF to support the Leadership Academy and not be considered as part of the $3,000.00 in the 2004 KTSAF budget. Kerry Schell seconded. Motion passed.
Red Anderson reminded everyone that nominations for the Field Forester Award are due to our Council Representative, Bob Cunningham, by February 28th. Nominations should be funneled through Jerry Crow.
Nominations for SAF’s Outstanding Communicator Award are due February 28, 2004, to SAF, Bathesda, MD (Attn: National Awards). Members urged to check the SAF web site for criteria and submit a nomination for this award.
2006 National Convention will be held in Pittsburgh, PA.
Tellers report indicated that about 25% of membership voted in this year’s KTSAF election. Red indicated that members should be able to vote easier using the Internet.
Membership report shows that KTSAF had gained 15 members during 2003. Bob Cunningham indicated that KTSAF had greatest gain in membership of all state societies in District Nine.
Meeting schedule for summer and winter meetings has been expanded to a total of twelve years. Updated schedule distributes winter and summer meetings so that all chapters have opportunity to host both summer and winter meetings.
West Kentucky Chapter: Jason Utley, Chapter Chair, indicated that the West Kentucky Chapter met four times to plan and organize this winter meeting.
East Tennessee Chapter: Jeff Holt, outgoing Chapter Chair, informed the meeting that the chapter meets for breakfast on the first Wednesday of each month. Special events during the last year have included a mixer with the UT Student Chapter, a Spring dinner meeting with program comments provided by TimberMart South, and a Fall workshop with a program on Non-Timber Revenue Sources (see attached).
Middle Tennessee Chapter: Bruce Kauffman, outgoing Chapter Chair, introduced the incoming Chapter Chair, Jere Jeter (see attached).
West Tennessee Chapter: Alan Houston advised that the theme of the 2004 Summer Meeting will be Precision Forestry. More information will follow. Also see attached Chapter Report for discussion for forester licensing/registration/certification.
Southeast Tennessee Chapter: Joe Berckle, Chapter Chair, summarized the recent and planned activities for the chapter.
Tennessee Division of Forestry: Jere Jeter advised that the Division is anticipating a five percent budget cut in this year’s budget. The Division may experience a windfall in replacing equipment. The report to the State Legislature on the Southern Forest Resource Assessment, mandated by House Joint Resolution 189, will be submitted soon. Reforestation of about 9,000 acres in West Tennessee this year [?].
Kentucky Division of Forestry: Bob Volk commented that their Division may also face a 1.5, 2.5, or 3.5 percent budget reduction this year. Forest Legacy fund has had money removed from the program. Kentucky is experiencing a job freeze, but hopes to fill several critical positions.
Cherokee National Forest: Red Anderson reported that the Kentucky-Tennessee Fires Academy, recently completed, was a success. Cherokee National Forest Management Plan has been approved and will be distributed soon.
Land Between the Lakes: LBL draft management plan will be out for comment soon.
Mead/Westvaco: COO has announced personnel reductions. They are expecting reduction of 80-100 forestry positions nationwide – eight of those reductions will be local.
University of Tennessee: George Hopper. 78 forestry. 73 Wildlife. 63 graduate students. Sixteen students attending this meeting. Eleven faculty. Undergoing curriculum review trying to reduce total credit hours to about 120 hours with current curriculum at 125 hours. See attached Student Chapter Report.
University of Kentucky: Jeff Stringer. Still looking for a Department Chair. Short five faculty. SAF accreditation is in good shape. UK will be forming a Department of Natural Resources to include _____________. Van-load of students attending this meeting. Enrollment going up by about 1/3.
University of the South: Joe Burckle reported that no students attending because of student comprehensive examinations. Most students go the environmental studies route because their ________________. [Information on forest manager being put in a different department.]
Red Anderson, Outgoing Chair, turned the KTSAF gavel over to Jerry Crow, Incoming Chair.
Business meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
Kentucky-Tennessee Society of American Foresters
Business Meeting June 12, 2003
Pickett State Forester’s Office
Meeting opened by Chairman Red Anderson with approximately 38 members present at 8:15 am.
Minutes of previous Business Meeting were passed out and approved after Wilcox moved and Cleary seconded.
Mid-year budget was presented by Jerry Crow and approved.
The Executive Committee reported that there was no quorum last night so they held an informal discussion, including:
Wayne Clatterbuck is coordinating KTSAF’s response to the Proposed Cherokee Forest Management Plan with a committee of six members. They will post a draft letter on the KTSAF website and replace it with the final comments which are due July 3, 2003.
Daniel Boone Draft Forest Management Plan is out for comment until August 14, 2003. Jeff Stringer is coordinating The KTSAF response to the plan.
Tennessee’s CFE coordinator has resigned and KTSAF is looking for a volunteer to replace him. There was some discussion on the Certified Forester program. Members recommended that SAF build a simple form to report continuing education hours with blank for presenter’s signature modeled after Kentucky Lawyers.
Chairman Anderson then asked for Chapter & agency reports:
East Kentucky Chapter (Rick Wilcox) reported that they held a joint meeting with Ohio consulting foresters. They looked at private lands held by investment groups. The meeting was a success.
West Kentucky Chapter (Jason Utley) reported they have met and are busy with planning the KTSAF Winter meeting to be held on January 21, 22 & 23 of 2004. Location has yet to be determined.
East Tennessee Chapter (Jeff Holt) reported they are holding monthly meetings.
At their meeting in April, their presenter was editor of TimberMart South. They are planning a daylong workshop in October.
Southeast Tennessee Chapter (Glen Smalley) reported on the ongoing efforts to maintain the Office of Forest Management on the Sewanee domain. KTSAF voted to send a letter of support for the position during the winter meeting in January and KTSAF leadership is waiting for the appropriate time. Smalley also reported that the Board of Trustees stayed (for 1 year) the administration’s decision to eliminate the position. Smalley will stay on top of the situation.
Middle Tennessee Chapter (Bruce Kauffman) has had a good recruiting year within the TDF office in Nashville. Thanks for coming today.
West Tennessee Chapter (Tom Cunningham) is looking for a leader.
University of the South (Joe Burckle) brought 3 students to the meeting. They also hosted a national Forest Stewards Guild meeting Sewanee. Some 130 people from across the US attended.
UT Forestry Experiment Station (Mark Young) reported that UT Extension is in a mode of self-support and they are looking at more alternatives for generating revenue.
LBL (Red Anderson) is beginning the process of planning. We’ll be hearing more in the near future.
Cherokee National Forest (Red Anderson) is closing the comment period on the proposed Forest Management Plan on July 3. Joe Bonnette is the new District Ranger on the Tellico District, replacing Alan Alsobrook, who retired in January. Joe came to the Cherokee from the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest in Arkansas. Susan Shaw has been selected as the Timber, Wildlife and Fisheries Staff Officer. She will report the first part of August. She in coming to the Cherokee from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glenco, GA. She is replacing Sam Brocato, who retired in January.
Daniel Boone National Forest (Rick Wilcox) is closing the comment period on the proposed Forest Management Plan on August 14, 2003. Rick urged anyone commenting on the plan to state not only your desires but also state why you support the request. They are expecting a new Deputy Supervisor soon.
Tennessee Division of Forestry (Jere Jeter) informed the group that the Department of Agriculture would undergo a 9% budget cut beginning in July. No warm bodies have been lost. They are also looking at vehicle reductions. Strategic planning process has been initiated.
Kentucky Division of Forestry gave no report.
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (Brant Miller) celebrated the opening of the Don Sundquist WMA, a 70,000-acre tract of land running from Royal Blue to Frozen Head State Park recently. TWRA owns the land but a timber company that will be managing it under SFI guidelines manages the timber. Budget cuts are hitting TWRA also.
New business:
Alliance For The Cumberlands, a new group, has been formed with purpose to stem the tide of development and retain the culture of the Plateau. The coalition of environmental groups’ mode of operation is working to enable the USFS to buy lands on the plateau from northern Alabama to Kentucky. Their next meeting is on August 26 at Somerset KY.
KTSAF SAF plaques for officers were under funded in last year’s budget. Chairman Anderson requested a motion to increase awards budget from $300 to $500 and reduce meeting expenses by $200 to offset the increase. Motion made by John Doty and seconded by someone. Approved by members.
MeadWestvaco Corporation (Greg Dale) is in the second year of the merger. The biggest initiative is the sale of approximately 700,000 acres of non-strategic lands in the next 3-4 years. Currently they are in the honeymoon stage.
Weyerhaeuser company (Doug Hendrickson) is planning to sell 180,00 acres of land in TN and 184,000 acres in North and South Carolinas. The paper machine in Kingsport is running and in the near future the use of pulp will increase by 3-4 times.
Business meeting adjourned at 9:15
Minutes taken
by Dave Walters
REPORT to KTSAF Winter EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
EAST TENNESEE CHAPTER ACTIVITIES 2003
LAKE BARKLEY STATE PARK, 012104
The East Tennessee Chapter of KTSAF had another
fabulous year of forestry fellowship and educational opportunities in
2003. The chapter meets monthly in the
Knoxville area, often having nearly 20 members in attendance. This provides a true link between others
practicing in a variety of areas. Three
other activities sponsored by the chapter show promise of becoming continuing
events.
The first of these was a meeting at a local
restaurant, famous for its beverage selection and pizza, where the East
Tennessee Chapter sponsored the evening for the UT Student SAF Chapter. This was a fine way to warm up a frosty
winter evening. The next event was the
Spring Evening Out at a restaurant overlooking the river in Knoxville with an
after dinner talk presented by the Editor of Timber Mart-South on international timber price trends and
their relationship to southeastern timber prices the past few years. The last event was a one-day workshop,
always held in early October, on Non-Timber
Revenue Sources. Diverse topics
including hunting leases, OHV permits, rock harvesting, and safety and
operations around oil and gas facilities.
Jeff Holt, CF
Chairman, East Tennessee Chapter 2003
Middle Tennessee Chapter Report
After hosting the Pickett State Forest meeting on June
11-13, 2003, there was a balance of $91.50.
Incoming Chair Jere Jeter and continuing Secretary/Treasurer Jeff
Thompson will lead the Chapter in 2004.
Membership remained about the same for the Chapter in 2003 with no
retirees. Some Chapter officers and
members were involved in the state version of the Southern Forest Resource
Assessment which will be published this January as mandated by the State
Legislature. Issues from this
assessment will shape the future of forestry in the state.
December 19, 2003
West Tennessee SAF Chapter meeting December 2, 2003
The meeting was held December 2, 2003 in Jackson, TN. Chair Dave Mercker called the meeting to order and passed out an agenda. Those present were: Max Billingsley, Eric Bridges, Jim Byford, Tom Cunningham, Allan Houston, Jason Maxedon, Wade McMahan, David Mercker, Charlie Riddell and Greg Warren.
Financial:
Previous balance $553.96
Debits $958.51
Credits $936.50
Current balance $531.95
It was mentioned that $65 of our account was available for new forester registrations. David Robertson’s name came up as a possible contact. A motion was made by Charlie Riddell and second by Tom Cunningham to approve the budget as read. Approved.
Election of Officers
for 2004-2006:
David Mercker asked for a slate of officers to run the WTN SAF chapter for 2004 and 2005, with the term expiring January 2006. Nominations were:
Chair David Mercker
Vice-chair Allen Houston
Sec./Treas. Wade McMahan
Nominations closed and those nominated were elected. An amendment was made later to separate the duties of Secretary and Treasurer between Wade McMahan and Tom Cunningham. Wade was elected Treasurer and Tom was elected Secretary (mainly because I was the only one taking notes and I got caught).
TN Forester
Registration discussion:
A lengthy discussion occurred regarding the registration of Foresters in TN. I will try to summarize the discussion. Wade McMahan was asked by David to provide some background for us. Wade mentioned that this idea of having TN Registered Foresters was not new and dated back to 1973. Wades main purpose was aimed at “Elevating the standing of Professionals”. We got into a long discussion of the pros and cons of licensing, registration, and governing boards. Max Billingsley seemed to be our expert on this because of his previous experience with the Surveying Licensing and Registration program in TN. Everyone present had some kind of comment or opinion on the subject and there was a good exchange of ideas. Some of the pros and cons mentioned were:
Pro Con
Eliminate the imposters Lot of baggage and costs associated
Elevate the Profession Need a Board to govern (politics)
May reduce environmental pressure Registration for the public not the individual
Does not keep the unprofessional from practicing
There were many questions concerning costs, testing, how registration would be structured, who would be “grandfathered in”, and who would govern it. Allen Houston suggested that we put together a KTSAF taskforce to develop and present a program on how a TN Registered Foresters program would be structured. Jim Byford suggested that this should be a topic at a KTSAF winter meeting sometime.
Then the next revelation occurred. Wade McMahan wondered if the SAF Certified Foresters program already in place could be recognized by TN as a source of Registered Foresters and not have to develop their own. (editors note: this is really what the SAF is trying to do with their CF program. In other words they want their CF program to be the recognized source of registered professional foresters in the US.) This was agreed to be the cleanest approach. The thinking was that if “you had a SAF CF you could practice forestry in the TN, if you did not, you couldn’t”. This could be policed by a sub-committee of the TN Forestry Commission. Jim Byford suggested that we take a proposal to TFA and the Forestry Commission regarding this and try to get them to draft a legislative bill and get it sponsored by someone. Jim wanted to add a proposal that we have “mandatory BMPs” as well. Some of us agreed to this and some did not. We decided to keep the BMP issue separate and pursue it at a later date. It was mentioned that maybe KY SAF [Do you mean KTSAF?] should be the lead organization in trying to get draft legislation for a Registered Foresters bill based on the SAF CF program. Dave asked Wade and Max to draft a resolution to KT SAF leadership concerning TN Forester Registration Legislation and to get a draft back to Dave by December 30th. Dave would forward to Leadership and try to get it on the winter meeting agenda. We would also like mandatory BMPs in TN on the agenda as well.
Summer meeting 2004:
It seems it is our turn again to host a meeting. Our options were a summer meeting in 2004 or a winter meeting in 2005. We chose the summer meeting in 2004. Allen told us that he had many interesting programs at Ames Plantation and would be more than happy to be the main anchor for our meeting. He has crop tree enhancement, seed orchards, harvest designs, and wildlife programs to choose from. We would like to set up the summer meeting in Jackson, TN on June 16-18. We would have the Executive meeting on the 16th and would also have the opportunity to go to a minor league baseball game that evening. The 17th would be at the Ames Plantation and we could either have the business meeting that day as well or the next morning.
Education:
Dave wants to set up a program of continuing education seminars to be held in Jackson for Foresters. Not only is this important for those of us who have CF’s, but also for our professional improvement and development. Several topics came up and our first session will be centered on Wetland Issues. UT Martin will be the host and it will occur in September 2004. Dave Mercker, Jason Maxedon, and Wayne Clatterbuck will be the instructors.
Next meetings:
Next meeting for the WTN SAF Chapter Officers will be January 8th in Jackson, TN. This will be a follow-up meeting on the TN Registered Foresters issue and we will start planning our summer meeting. The next regular Chapter meeting will be February 19th at 3:30 pm just prior to the West Tennessee Foresters Group meeting at Boyettes.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:30.
Report
for University of Tennessee Student Chapter of the Society of American
Foresters
Fall Term 2003
David S. Buckley,
Faculty Representative
With approximately 40 student members, growth of the Society of American Foresters Student Chapter/Forestry Club at the University of Tennessee continues.
Early in the fall term, chapter members participated in putting on the annual Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Fall Bonfire, and made arrangements with a local sawmill to provide wood for the fire.
Several guest speakers donated their time during biweekly chapter meetings during the fall term, providing chapter members with perspectives ranging from forestry extension to the lumber industry.
The highlight of the fall occurred when the student chapter sent 22 members to the 2003 SAF National Convention in Buffalo, NY. The students participated in the quiz bowl, attended presentations, and interacted with various professionals during the Tennessee Alumni Social and other occasions during the course of the meeting. Several students also enjoyed the opportunity to visit Niagara Falls.
Fundraising activities this autumn included a very successful lunchtime cookout on the UT campus, and sales of t-shirts, hats, and foam-rubber drink can holders bearing the UT Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries departmental logo.
In order to raise additional funds, arrangements were made over the 2003-2004 holiday break to participate in a prescribed burning project in conjunction with a local consulting firm and the Tennessee Division of Forestry. Unfortunately, this activity was postponed indefinitely due to snow, but may occur in the future.
Preparations for the spring Association of Southern Forestry Clubs conclave at Mississippi State are currently underway, and the students are planning to put on another lunchtime cookout and engage in other activities such as tree planting to raise funds that will help cover the cost of attending this event.
Spring elections resulted in the following officers for the 2003-04 academic year:
President: Amanda Caudle (acaudill@utk.edu)
Vice-President: Wes Tilley (wtilley@utk.edu)
Secretary: Jessica Satterfield (jsatter4@utk.edu)
Treasurer: Mic Mullins (micmullins@utk.edu)
Conclave Chair: Neil Owens (nowens1@utk.edu)