1) A federal judge recently upheld the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to include private Louisiana lands in a frog's critical habitat, while also criticizing the designation as intrusive. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman issued a ruling on a lawsuit over the critical habitat of the dusky gopher frog, an endangered species that numbers about 100 in the wild. In a 2012 rule, FWS designated 6,477 acres of land in Mississippi and Louisiana as critical habitat; including almost 1,600 acres of private land in Louisiana where the frogs haven't been seen since the 1960s. Landowners argued that their tree farm in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, is not suitable for the frog and accused FWS of forgoing adequate economic analysis and an environmental impact statement. But Feldman rejected those arguments, ruling that FWS followed the Endangered Species Act and other laws.

2) The Obama administration has denied an environmental group's petition that sought to compel the Interior Department to develop specific rules to protect the greater sage grouse from surface and underground coal mines. The Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) rejected the petition by WildEarth Guardians, in part because it concluded that current federal rules and regulations are adequate enough to protect the imperiled sage grouse. Joseph Pizarchik, OSMRE's director, explained in a letter to WildEarth Guardians that the group's petition "does not meet the threshold of acceptance" under the Code of Federal Regulations because it "does not establish a reasonable basis for rulemaking" under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA).

WVFA staff recently participated in the Annual SFI, Inc. conference, in Montreal, Quebec. At that event, the SFI, Inc. set the stage for the final version of revised standards for 2015-2019; or three new standards as the literature states: Forest management, Chain-of-Custody and Fiber Sourcing.

The West Virginia SFI Implementation Committee met yesterday to review new standards and for other regular business. An early look reveals that the new standard is expected to separate fee-land and procurement initiatives, expand the language to account for aboriginal lands, increase national expectations for research and increase focus upon conversions from one forest type to another.

Two hundred and fifty million acres of forestland are now SFI certified in North America.

Recently, WVFA staff was happy to be a small part of the Glatfelter annual logger appreciation dinner, which was held at the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest. We joined more than 140 loggers and their families and Glatfelter woodlands staff at the dinner. This event is held each year to show Glatfelter's appreciation for all of the hard work that the area loggers do to make the Chillicothe mill so successful.

Each of the three districts awarded a plaque to their logger of the year for their hard work and professionalism. The recipients of the 2014 "Gladfelter Logger of the Year" awards included:

South District: South District Supervisor Jeff Jenkins congratulates Redoutey Logging for South District Logger of the Year.
East District: East District Supervisor Gene Shutler congratulates D&D Timber, Inc. for the East District Logger of the Year.
West District: West District Supervisor Jeff Hoselton (Glatfelter Forester) congratulates Jeff Whitcraft and Roger Glandon for West District Logger of the Year.

- Information from Chris Fry, Senior Forester

WVFA and WV Division of Forestry have historically had an excellent working relationship. That spirit of cooperation, support and respect continues today with programs that include Project Learning Tree, the MetroNews Radio Communications Campaign, loggers' safety/training and data collection/sharing, and, currently, Tree Farm inspections.

Project Learning Tree - Several WVDOF staff serve as facilitators and DOF's Linda Carnell is Interim State Coordinator for the initiative; even attending this year's national conference for West Virginia. For years DOF has been an essential component to the PLT, funding of a lot of the educational materials for workshops. WVFA provides PLT 
administrative and logistical support, as well as materials needed to conduct programs. PLT is an excellent way for youth to be exposed to our natural 
resources and become more environmentally literate.

WVFA Safety Committee - WVDOF staff have always been involved and supportive of the work of this committee, with its focus on improving the safety of the logging and sawmill industries. DOF staff serve as first aid/CPR/Blood-Born-Pathogen instructors. WVFA distriputes Safety Alerts, arranges OSHA workshops, maintains necessary certificates and relationship with the American Red Cross, and acts as a source for required medical supplies and required OSHA on-site books.

Tree Farm Program - While WVFA serves as the state sponsor and coordinator of the Tree Farm Program, 
DOF foresters have served as Tree Farm inspectors for many years; though, this activity will end this year.

WVFA doesn't receive any 
financial benefit from its involvement with the Tree Farm Program, Project Learning Tree or the Logger Safety initiative (other than reimbursement for OSHA books and medical supplies) and has worked very well with the DOF in using these programs to facilitate sustainable forest management information to private forest 
landowners, foresters and loggers for years. We value our relationship with WVDOF and hope to continue working together on these programs of mutual benefit to the industry that we both serve.