Page 10 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Second Quarter 2021

Top image: Perry Hunt, John Hatcher, and Jason Hoyle on a visit to Hunt Forest Resources in 2020. Middle image:
Three generations of Jordan Lumber, with John Hatcher. Bottom image: John Hatcher with Wesley West at
Lampe & Malphrus Lumber Company.
Federal
On June 22, 2020, President Donald J. Trump issued a proclamation that would have prohibited H-2B guest workers from entering the United States through December 31, 2020. On Wednesday, August 12, 2020 the U.S. Department of
State released guidance providing a pathway for forestry H-2B guest workers to obtain exemptions to the President’s recent proclamation suspending entry into the U.S. by immigrants and non-immigrants. The NCFA would like to thank the National Alliance of Forest Owners, Forest Resources Association, Forest Landowners Association, and all of our members who engaged our elected officials on this important policy matter.
Tariffs
The United States and China signed a phase one trade agreement on January 15, 2020. As part of the agreement, China has pledged to purchase approximately $200 billion in U.S. manufacturing, energy, and a wide array of agricultural and forest products over the next two years.
Transportation
A number of North Carolina’s state highways have or are currently in the process of transitioning into the federal interstate system. While this transition has great potential for stimulating commerce, it creates a major problem for forestry and agricultural sectors. In 2012, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation granting agriculture and forestry producers a 10,000-pound variance due to the variable weight of agricultural and forest products leaving the farm and the forest. This 10,000-pound variance for agriculture and forestry will no longer be honored on the roads transitioning into the federal interstate system unless Congress decides
to grandfather them in. The NCFA, along with some of your fellow members, conveyed this message to the North Carolina Congressional Delegation, resulting in the incorporation of grandfathering language into U.S Senate Bill 2302, America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act of 2019. The NCFA, its members and several of our partners are working with our Congressional Delegation to have this language introduced in both chambers during the 117th Congress. We will provide updates on this issue as they arise.
Waters of the United States (WOTUS)
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army published a new clean water rule on April 21, 2020 that became effective on June 22, 2020, everywhere except Colorado. The new rule includes four simple categories of jurisdictional waters, provides clear exclusions for many water features that have traditionally not been regulated, and defines terms in the regulatory text that have never been defined before. Seventeen states, including North Carolina, challenged the rule in a California federal court and Colorado challenged the rule in the Colorado federal court. The California court denied the states’ request for a preliminary injunction but the Colorado court issued one covering only Colorado. Currently there are 11 other lawsuits challenging the rule, including three by the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is arguing the definition is still too broad.
No other injunctions have been issued.
• Established 1911
• 4,000+ members
• Private non-profit partnership
• First and only logger safety training program in NC
• NC’s oldest forest conservation organization
• Average years
of membership: 27 years
• Those with 34 or more years of NCFA membership: 181