Free webinar August 19, 2009: Conservation Stewardship Program

Passing along an announcement from the American Society for Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America.  The new Conservation Stewardship Program will be of interest to many Minnesota family forest owners.

Update:  This event is over.

More than the name has changed!  The new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), part of the 2008 Farm Bill, that began August 10.

CSP is a new voluntary conservation program that provides financial and technical assistance to farmers/landowners to conserve and enhance soil, water, air, and related natural resources on their land. CSP provides opportunities to both recognize excellent stewards and deliver valuable new conservation. The program will be offered to producers in all 50 states, District of Columbia and the Pacific and Caribbean areas through continuous sign-ups. The initial sign-up began August 10 and continues through September 30.

ASA and SSSA are pleased to host a special USDA update on the program and are offering this seminar at no charge.  Join us on August 19, 2009 from
12:00-1:00 Central

Dave White, Chief of NRCS, will provide an overview and highlights of the program.  Program leaders Steve Parkin and Dwayne Howard will provide more program information/details and all three will take your questions about program benefits and eligibility requirements.

“This program will help the Nation’s agricultural and forestry producers reach greater levels of conservation performance,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.  “The conservation benefits derived from maintaining and enhancing natural resources will improve the quality of soil and water, assist in addressing global climate change, and encourage environmentally responsible energy production.”

Registration – Now Closed–Event is over

More information about the Conservation Stewardship Program

National Timber Tax webinar rescheduled for March 13

An upcoming web-based presentation (webinar) may be of interest to some MyMinnesotaWoods readers.  This one is rescheduled for Friday, March 13, 2009 at 11am Central.  The presentation is by Linda Wang of the US Forest Service.

This tax session highlights key timber tax issues faced by private landowners in time for the 2009 filing season. It is intended to provide a snapshot and basic understanding of the timber tax matters in a concise manner for forest and natural resource agency staff, directors, extension agents and program leaders, and foresters.

Click here for complete event details, including how to connect. The event is free and pre-registration is not required.  Note:  At the time of this writing, that link does not reflect the new date. The actual rescheduled date is Friday, March 13, 2009 at 11am Central.

Timber Tax Update, Part 1: Linda Wang

This special one-hour tax program is one in a two-part program that provides an update on timber tax to assist landowners and foresters in the 2009 filing season.  It will discuss timber tax law and rules on reporting income and expenses and proposed new regulations by the IRS.

The program will run from 11:00am to noon Central.  For details or to register, visit http://forestrywebinar.net.   A flyer is at http://www.myminnesotawoods.umn.edu/docs/TaxWebinarPartI.pdf.

The presenter, Linda Wang, is Forest Taxation Specialist, State and Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service.  Linda is a national leader on timber tax issues.

This program will be online.  To access it, you will need a high-speed internet connection.

Free climate change webinar series for Spring 2009

This webinar series will run from January – May 2009 and feature monthly presentations geared to help land managers, consulting foresters, and private forest landowners stay informed on the latest science and tech transfer tools related to forest-based adaptation and mitigation of climate change. Each webinar is an hour long, including Q & A, although there will be an optional additional 15 minute Q & A period. Each webinar counts as one hour of continuing education credit for certified foresters.

The syllabus so far is as follows:

January 14, 2009 | Wed | 2pm EST:
Interactions Between Carbon, Climate, and Forests
Presenter: Chris Swanston (Research Ecologist, Northern Research Station, USFS)
This presentation will set the stage for a broader discussion on climate change and forests by briefly examining interactions between climate change, carbon cycling, and forest sustainability. First, we’ll cover some key mechanisms and major trends in climate change, and then explore forecasts of future climate and associated uncertainty. Next, we’ll survey the global carbon cycle and the distribution of carbon in major forest ecosystems. We’ll then consider several general ecophysiological concepts and how projected changes in climate may interact with forest ecophysiology. Finally, we’ll discuss how all these considerations may combine to affect forest carbon storage and productivity in the Lake States and Northeast.

February 11, 2009 | Wed | 2pm EST:
Forest Management During Climate Change
Presenter: Maria Janowiak (Outreach Scientist, Northern Institute of Applied Carbon Science)
Climate change is expected to have significant effects on the condition and function of forested ecosystems; however, the exact nature of the stressors, their intensity, and the ensuing impacts on forests are quite uncertain. Forest managers will need to cope with this uncertainty, balancing the paucity of detailed information on future conditions against the demands of active and sustainable resource planning and management. In this context, sustainable forest management must recognize the need for ecosystems to adapt to changing climatic conditions in order to achieve desired objectives including, among other things, maintenance of habitat, production of wood, and mitigation of increased levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases. This presentation synthesizes available information on forest management options in the northeastern United States to provide a background for working with an uncertain climate future.

March 18, 2009 | Wed | 2pm EST:
CVal: A Carbon Valuation Tool for Foresters and Private Forest Landowners
Presenter: Sarah Hines (Presidential Management Fellow, USFS)
This presentation will introduce participants to a just-released Carbon Valuation Spreadsheet and accompanying General Technical Report (GTR) written by Ted Bilek, Peter Becker, and Tim McCabee (2008). The spreadsheet is a powerful and valuable tool available to the forestry community (target audience: consulting foresters, state foresters) to be able to interface with private landowners and help them make sound, transparent decisions as to whether participation in the voluntary carbon market is an attractive option based on a full accounting of variables.

April 15, 2009 | Wed | 2pm EST:
TBA

May 13, 2009 | Wed | 2pm EST:
TBA

Click here to download a poster version of these details.

How to connect:
The webinar and dial-in info for the Climate Change Continuing Education Webinar Series is as follows:
Website: http://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join.php?i=747085393&p=&t=c
Meeting Number: 747085393
Phone number: 1.866.581.6894
Passcode: 8623725