Budget 101: NIFA Renewable Resources Extension Program
With so many unengaged forest landowners and rapidly expanding threats from pests and disease, it is critically important that AFF champion programs designed to reach out and educate the public.
The Renewable Resources Extension Program actively supports outreach and education to forest owners, so they have the information they need to be better stewards of their land. These programs leverage significant state and local dollars to combine with federal funding and support, ensuring that programs are completed most effectively and efficiently.
Extension programs provide information and support on a variety of forest-related topics—from insect invasion, to wildlife risk assessment, to tax advice for new forest owners. Maine Cooperative Extension, for example, contains knowledgeable forestry staff who “provide publications and programs on topics ranging from growing Christmas trees to enhancing habitat for wildlife, how to feed and attract birds to operating a portable sawmill.”
Interestingly, the Maine Extension program even sponsors a Maple Syrup Grading School to ensure quality control and provide a grading scale for maple producers, bulk syrup buyers, and state inspectors; this program helps support U.S. maple syrup production [PDF] which currently accounts for approximately 20 percent of the worldwide production.
Similarly, the Arkansas Forestry Extension provides valuable information to state forestland owners. For example, the easily accessible extension website details strategies to deal with devastating ice storm damage. Every winter Arkansas is overwhelmed by heavy ice storms that risk total loss of forestland investments.
State extension programs, however, provide solutions for dealing with these potentially damaging storms: timber salvaging, identifying alternative uses, recovering damages through taxes, and ultimately recovering the forested landscape.
Extension programs are necessary institutions that provide indispensable information, advice, and expertise to both existing and future landowners. Without their on-the-ground and region-specific assistance, federal agencies would be overwhelmed and America’s forestland would suffer. Because of this, AFF strongly urges the Subcommittee to maintain funding and support for these helpful programs.
Take action today: ask your members of Congress to protect the health of our forests.
Keep Reading:
Budget 101: National Resource Conservation Service
Budget 101: Farm Bill Conservation Programs
Budget 101: APHIS Invasive Pest and Pathogens Funding
Photo credit: Flickr's Chiot's Run
