Virginia Department of Forestry Report

Virginia Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts Quarterly Meeting – June 24, 2015

Forest Management

COST SHARE: (State & Federal)

  • RCPP (DOF) – The DOF is the lead agency for this Virginia grant.NRCS and VDOF have rolled out this Program on June 9, 2015 with the first application deadline of July 8, 2015 and the second on July 22, 2015. This program will be a continuation of the current EQIP program with a few changes.See attached News Release!
  • The Forestry Quail Habitat Recovery Program is a cooperative program between DOF and DGIF. It is available in the Chowan Basin SWCD, Culpeper SWCD, Halifax SWCD, Headwaters SWCD Three Rivers SWCD and the counties of Bland and Wythe . It provides assistance to landowners for good forestry practices that improve quail habitat. Examples are thinning, mid-rotation stand treatments, and planting of shortleaf pine.
  • The Virginia Trees for Clean Water Program is designed to plant trees that restore and improve the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.Types of eligible projects include riparian buffer tree planting as well as community and neighborhood tree plantings. Funding is through the Chesapeake Bay Program through the USFS.A total of 39 projects have been funded with this program within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. New funding for this program through the USDA Forest Service through the Chesapeake Bay Program Office will be available this Fall.
  • Pre-commercial thinning of over-stocked pine stands is an excellent practice to maintain stand health, and tree growth and future value. Funding continues to be available to complete this good work through the DOF’s Southern Pine Bark Beetle Prevention Program. An innovative cost-share program to logging contractors to help defer the cost to them to thin small tracts of pine timber (less than 25 acres) for Forest Health purposes is also beginning in the month of June, logging contractors will be able to receive up to $2,000 in operating costs.
  • Longleaf pine is an important and valuable tree, native only to southeast Virginia. Over time, it has been nearly exterminated through overuse and feral hogs. Cooperative efforts are under way by DOF, DCR, NRCS, DGIF, ODU, US Fish and Wildlife, and Conservation Organizations and private landowners to restore the species.

Water Quality

  • Reviewing and providing comments through the Southern Group of State Foresters Water Resources Committee on new “Waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) Rule that was put into effect by USEPA. It further defines WOTUS and leaves in place exemptions for Agriculture and Forestry Operations but appears to broaden the definition of WOTUS thus broadening the scope of USEPA regulatory authority. VDOF and SGSF is still in the process of digesting the over 200 pgs of the Federal Register to determine future implications.
  • Reviewed and provided comments along with Virginia Forestry Association (VFA) and the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) on the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed listing of the Big Sandy Crayfish (Cambaruscallainus) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The crayfish’s known habitat is in the Big Sandy Watershed - Buchanan, Dickinson and Wise Counties in Virginia, and parts of West Virginia and Kentucky.

Forest Marketing

VDOF participated in a Governor’s Trade Mission to Germany to promote our forest products industry in May along with the VDACS. Wood Pellets for export for fuel continue to be strong in the export market.