Summer 2018

I N D U S T R Y N E W S www.wvfa.org Summer 2018 |  West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry 7 Single Member House Districts The Legislature approved the creation of single-member districts for the WV House of Delegates (HB 4002). These new district boundaries will be crafted following the 2020 census and will take effect for the 2022 elections. Single-member districts will eliminate the current system of multi-member House districts. West Virginia is one of only two states that has multi-member districts containing more than 3 delegates per district. WV Construction Up In news that is always well received in a wood producing industry, the Governor’s office: “Cit[ed] statistics generated by the U.S. Department of Labor that show West Virginia led the nation in percentage of new construction job growth in 2017.” Co-Tenancy Enacted Gov. Jim Justice has signed HB 4268 that will allow oil and gas development to occur in cases where there are seven or more royalty owners and at least 75 percent of the undivided interest owners of the oil and gas that consent to development. The law will take effect on July 1, 2018 and is relevant to forest landowners’ rights. Wildfire Fighting Budget After weeks of intense negotiations, Congressional leaders, have released their FY2018 Appropriations Bill, including a comprehensive wildfire funding fix to the budgetary challenges within the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior. We anticipate Congress will pass this legislation soon. Crowning of Timber & Wood Queen, Teen, Mrs, Jr-Miss, Little-Miss Again we say “thank you” to Crystal Smith, on behalf of WVFA in gratitude to her and her team for all she does in her work on the WV Timber & Wood Festival pageant and annual activities. Queen: Emily Wigal; Teen: Courtney Winter; Mrs: Kari Park; Junior Miss: Taylor Randolph; Little Miss: Tegwin McMillan.  News Briefs State of the Forest Products Industry – Optimistic WRITING FOR FARM CREDIT EAST, INRS’ Eric Kingsley reviewed the current state of the forest industry across the Northeast, and finds some real reasons for optimism. With lumber markets strong and new investment in remaining pulp and paper mills, the region is seeing a stabilization in markets. That doesn’t mean there won’t be changes—there will be. However, after years of negative changes (lost markets), we are starting to see positive changes as new manufacturing projects are announced. The Northeast’s robust and diverse forest industry supply chain is making these new projects possible. Kingsley’s article, Forest Industry in the Northeast, can be found beginning on page 36 of Insights & Perspectives, an annual piece published by Farm Credit East. See the entire article at www.farmcrediteast.com/knowledge-exchange/Reports/northeast- agriculture-2018-insights-perspectives. 