Stewardship Advisory Committee

The Stewardship Advisory Committee, also known as the Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee, meets from time to time to make recommendations concerning state and private forestry issues, and the implementation of the Stewardship Program. The membership varies from meeting to meeting. Invitees include consulting foresters, family woodland owners, professional timber harvesters, and representatives of the University of Maine, the Maine Department of Agriculture, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the federal USDA Forest Service and Natural Resource Conservation Service, among others.

Meeting Notes

December 2, 2010 (pdf | 14 KB)

Bangor Motor Inn

9:00-9:15: Welcome and introductions-Kevin Doran

9:15-9:30: The Role of the Committee & Recap of March meeting—Andy Shultz

9:30-10:30: The current status of federally funded forestry programs:

Stewardship Project: Roger Monthey and Dave Welsch, USDA Forest Service (pdf | 2.93 MB)

NRCS administered programs: Buster Carter, USDA NRCS (pdf | 702 KB)

10:30-10:45: break

10:45-11:15: The place of small woodland owners/family forests in the Maine State Forest Assessment and Strategy.—Don Mansius (pdf | 424 KB)

11:15-11:30: Questions & Discussion

11:30-12:00 Lunch

12:00-3:00: Open discussion and idea session (Kevin, Andy, all):

The framework for this portion of the meeting will be the discussion questions below. We may delve into other topics, but it’s important to cover these issues today.

3:00: Wrap-up and adjourn. Thanks to all for attending.

Maine Stewardship Advisory Committee 12/2/10 Discussion questions:
General
  1. How important is cost share funding for family forest owners?   For management plans?  For practices?
  2. What are the most important activities that woodland owners should be doing on or for their woodlands (building on the answers from last March, as specifically as possible)?
  3. What are the measurable outcomes of Forest Stewardship assistance? How do we know it’s working?
How to deal with declining federal funding for Forest Stewardship
  1. If you had to choose between the following two options, would Stewardship be better served by cost-sharing plans and practices, or by putting more boots on the ground?
  2. If there were only one source for financial assistance for FMPs, what should it be? Same question for implementing recommended practices.
  3. What would your reaction be to the idea of MFS getting out of the cost share business and focusing its Forest Stewardship Program funding strictly on education and outreach?
  4. As federal and state funding support for forestry assistance programs shrinks or disappears, what other sources of funds would you suggest that we try to tap into? Please consider all scales: from very local to “landscape” to state to regional to federal, and the private and nonprofit sectors. Are there non-traditional places to look that we should consider?
  5. Please suggest geographic areas and/or unifying issues that can be effectively addressed through a landscape approach (“Landscape” in this context means broader than individual parcel ownership, but less than the entire state of Maine).   Examples of current projects include:  

    Keeping forests as forests in Kennebec County

    Protecting water quality by maintaining well-managed forest cover in the Presumpscot Watershed

  6. Related question: for the issues/areas you suggest, who are the key individuals/organizations/groups we should be in touch with?
  7. What per cent of available cost-share/financial assistance funds should go to management planning?
The future of WoodsWISE Plans
  1. Is it a good idea to add some more choices to the forest management plan menu? Examples:
    • activity-specific (such as harvest) plans
    • woodlot assessments (less data than WoodsWISE Stewardship, but meets/exceeds Tree Farm/Tree growth minimums)
  2. What is/are the most important elements of the current WW Plan specs?
  3. Is there any item or items you would eliminate from the current WoodsWISE Plan specifications? Why?
  4. What do you think about a standardized forest management plan template that meets Stewardship, Tree Farm and EQIP requirements?

March 10, 2010 (pdf | 12 KB)

Summary of Responses to Discussion Topics (pdf | 14.7 KB)

Pine Tree State Arboretum Augusta

8:30 – Registration.

9:00 – Welcome/introductions – Kevin Doran

  • Goals for Day – Andy Shultz
  • Update on Stewardship Program – Andy Shultz
  • Status of State Forest Assessment and Response – Don Mansius

10:15 (or when needed)– Break

  • Prioritization--All
  • Resource concerns- All
  • Practices on the ground--All
  • Building a better education & outreach program – All
  • Communication--All

12:00 – Wrap up & adios