WV Tree Farm Committee Meets
* Mona Griswold was asked to speak about the WV Tree Farm Program at the West Virginia Forestry Association’s annual meeting in July.
* Inspection Summary - There are 24 required inspections this year. Training for the new Tree Farm standard will be needed for these inspections to occur. Mona Griswold reported that Bob Radspinner indicated that about half of the required inspections can be done by the WVDOF as they involve Forest Stewardship properties. The rest of the required inspections will go to the Area Chairs for assignment to other inspectors.
* WV TF Assessment - Those in attendance participated in a teleconference call with American Forest Foundation consultant Tom Davidson to complete their "Dashboard Assessment" of WV baseline data for the upcoming strategic planning workshop. The general outcome, from this writers assessment, is the WV TF is above average in most of the categories considered.
* Area/Regional Meetings – Morgantown session had 26 in attendance. The Summersville session had 18 attendees including two Tree Farmers. Presentations were made by WVDOF, WVDNR, NWTF, WVDA, and WVU-CES.
* Newsletter - The newsletter has been reinstated. It was e-mailed to those with valid e-mail addresses. Others received it by regular mail.
* Grant Reports - Thanks to M. Griswold, the 2014 grant reports were completed and turned in on time.
* Strategic Planning Workshop - A two-day TF planning workshop will be held at the next TF Committee meeting at the WVDOF state office in Charleston. It will be one half day and one full day.
* Committee Members – There is now a full committee. Mike Seiber will act as the Area 1 Chair. He is a Tree Farmer from Harrison County. Buck Chestnut will serve as the Area 5 Chair. He is a Tree Farmer from Kanawha County.
* Training for Inspectors - It is hoped that this will be done in conjunction with a Stewardship training program; possibly May or June.
* There was a reminder that the WVFA Annual Meeting will be July 8-12, 2015.
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