SPRING 2023 35 Assembly, we need to continue spreading the word on the good work we do. As Ron Jenkins, the executive director of the Virginia Loggers Association (VLA) pointed out in their spring publication, “Others are trying to tell our story.” If this is true, the only people that must tell our story are the people that live forestry every day—our membership and the members of our community and industry. Landowners, loggers, forest products companies and supporting industries all have a story to share. In addition to the great work Advantus Strategies is doing, we must get out to speak and to tell our stories. This was very clear coming from just about every speaker at the 2023 Forestry Summit. While we are celebrating great wins over the past couple of years with the Forest Sustainability Fund and the recent biomass bill (along with other important legislation), there are folks out there that do not see the benefits of what we do. Along with VFA’s partners at the VLA, the Virginia Forest Products Association, the Virginia Agribusiness Council and Virginia Farm Bureau, our voices are loud and clear. Through the support of the VAForestPAC and the Advocacy Fund, our presence at the proper venues to be seen by those who need to hear our story most can be accomplished. With redistricting of the Commonwealth’s Voting Districts, there is going to be a great impact on the elections this year and in coming years. This means there is going to be a huge turnover in the House and Senate. As Dr. Bob Holsworth pointed out to us at the Summit, there are going to be a bunch of new faces in the political arena, and there are many industries and organizations flooding these folks with their messages and stories. This is where the tools we put into place can have their greatest impact by getting our Executive Director Cory Connor and the Advantus team in front of those individuals who need to hear our story the most. What is our story? Let’s look back at what we learned from the Forestry Summit. First, we heard Dr. Aday from Virginia Institute of Marine Science speak to us about the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the correlation between both marine and forestry industries. Specifically, he shared how both industries meet the needs of society and sustain the integrity of our ecosystems. Richard “Carbo” Carbonetti spoke to us about the challenges foresters face, not only from the expectations of landowners and the public, but also for maintaining a viable workforce. A breakout session on landowner succession planning told the story of the landowner who is trying to keep their land intact and self-sustaining for generations to come. Among our tours was a trip to land owned by the City of Newport News, which highlighted the good story of silviculture and their efforts to provide a municipality with clean water while generating revenue through commercial timber harvesting. The bottom line is that we are providing society with goods, as the world population grows. We are practicing our profession in a way that we can provide these goods in a sustainable manner that benefits humankind and is good for the environment. We need food, shelter, and clean water to survive. Forestry and timber harvesting is a necessity for providing goods, building materials for shelter, and packaging for the shipment of food and other products to the consumers of the world. I cannot think of an industry and community that can say they can do all those things. That is just a part of our story. There is much to tell. Let us be heard. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE, continued from page 7. VFA Past President Stephanie Grubb passes the gavel to Dan Hockenberger, who will serve as President in 2023-24. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE, continued from page 5. From every challenge emerges opportunity. Confined to our respective homes and offices, the COVID interlude allowed the Board to focus introspectively to build a foundation upon which VFA can later grow. This included the completion of priority items from our existing 2016–2021 Strategic Plan. But it also allowed sufficient time to transform internal functions, allowing the Board to better benchmark performance against association BMPs. VFA better serves you today because of the often tedious work of the VFA Board during COVID, performed almost entirely over Zoom before we all knew what Zoom was. The driver behind this final objective was to complete some outstanding work from the Board’s “alignment planning” in 2020–21. The idea was for VFA to hit the ground running when the world reopened. The future direction(s) in which VFA runs is up to you. As this review hopefully illustrates, the leadership you provide through volunteering and the feedback you provide through surveys truly guides the formation of our strategic imperatives. Soon there will be opportunities to provide new guidance, informing our future endeavors so that VFA may continue improving and delivering value to you. I sincerely encourage you to answer those calls.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTY1NDIzOQ==