The 2014 WVFA Forester of the Year Award was presented to Chuck Beach of the Weyerhaeuser Company for his talented leadership and highly successful efforts in planning and organizing WVFA's 2014 A.B. Brooks Symposium in February. The event enjoyed more than double the number of attendees over the recent Symposia. Further, Beach's input to the success of the annual meeting was essential and complimentary to the tradition of the event.

The 2014 WVFA Service Award was presented to Roger Sherman, recently retired from MeadWestvaco, Inc., for general recognition of decades of service in the WV legislative arena and, more specifically, for his leadership in protecting forest industry members from excessive regulation relative to the new Aboveground Storage Tank Law. Sherman's diligence in communications and government affairs is writ large in the freedom of operations that WVFA members enjoy and in the benefits WV citizens have from our healthy industry.

The 2014 WVFA Environmental Education Award was presented to the West Virginia Division of Forestry for work by Jeremy McGill. WVFA presents the award each year to an individual, group or business that has demonstrated leadership in environmental education and/or environmental stewardship. This year's award is in recognition of work done to effectively and evenhandedly implement the Logging Sediment Control Act.

Lanny Williamson, 2013-2014 president of WVFA, was presented a plague by WVFA First VP Ed Kraynok, of Coastal Timberlands, for distinguished leadership of WVFA - and within the forestry community - during the challenging times of transition that have marked the last year in the economy, WVFA staff orientations and Association program initiatives.

Here is the American Loggers Council position on truck road-weights:
Individual states have long set weight limits for their roads and highways. With the advent of the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways (Interstate System), the Federal Government established its own weight limits for this system. Thirteen states have received various exemptions from these limits. Transit buses and fire and other disaster response vehicles have temporary exemptions pending studies of their weight and use.

Generally, Title 23, Section 127(a), U.S. Code, sets Interstate System weight limits at 20,000 pounds on a single axle; 34,000 pounds on tandems; and a gross weight of 80,000 pounds on a 36-foot tandem spread. A bridge formula is used to recognize different axle spreads. These maximums include enforcement tolerances.

The WV State Implementation Committee of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative has requested the WVFA reactivate our relationship with the Cooperative Weed & Pest Management Area Committee (CWPMAC).

The Potomac Highlands Cooperative Weed and Pest Management Area is a partnership between federal, state, and local agencies, community associations, non-profit organizations, and private land owners aimed at coordinating efforts and programs for addressing the threat of invasive species. CWPMA members are dedicated to invasive species management.

The Waters of the U.S. proposed rule lets EPA regulate small ponds, ditches and rainwater flowing through low spots and isolated wet spots as if they were "navigable waterways;" a Clean Water Act criteria for government regulation. The proposed rule would let EPA tell landowners how to manage their properties or even keep them from using the land altogether. EPA has claimed to exempt 56 specific conservation practices, but countless routine working-land activities would need a permit under this new proposal. Congress never meant to require federal permits for ordinary land use and on "moist" areas.

In cooperation with the WV Farm Bureau, WVFA has a limited number of pre-printed postcards that require only that your name and address be added and returned to us to be sent to EPA during their extend period of public comment. To weigh-in on behalf of land use rights, let us know if you want one of the postcards by emailing us at Elizabeth@WVFA.org or calling (304) 372-1955.