Protecting one of Maine’s most valuable natural resources – its forests – was the focus of the majority of testimony given Wednesday on Gov. John Baldacci’s plan to end the fiscal year in the black.
At issue is a proposal to eliminate the Dept. of Conservation’s Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, leaving the job of measuring the sustainability of Maine’s forests to the U.S. Forest Service.
The initiative, part of a wide-ranging plan to trim $140 million from current spending, would save the state $98,000 between now and June 30. The reduction would eliminate five full-time and eight seasonal positions, some of which are partially funded with federal dollars.
Patrick Straunch, executive director of the Maine Forest Products Council, said this proposal “has gone too far.”
“Reverting responsibility to the U.S. Forest Service takes us back in time to the era of the forest referendums of the past where considerable public time and industry investment in fighting for the right to practice forestry occurred,” Straunch said. “During this time, the U.S. Forest Service was almost over six years late in updating the forestry inventory data.”
Straunch said too much of the U.S. Forest Service’s resources are directed west to prevent forest fires.
He and others explained that demand for Maine timber is increasing. In addition to the traditional needs for firewood and lumber, new demands for wood pellets and biomass fuel could result in over-harvesting, which is what the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program is designed to prevent.
“Understanding the future wood supplies in Maine’s forests is absolutely critical,” said Robert G. Wagner, director of the University of Maine’s School of Forest Management. “It is absolutely vital that the State of Maine preserve this capability.”
Jim Contino, fiber supply manager for Verso Paper Corp., which owns paper mills in Jay and Bucksport, said increasing interests in Maine’s woods make monitoring their health imperative.
“The whole world seems to be looking toward the north woods for more sources of energy,” Contino said. “Now is not the time to leave this up to the federal government. Maine’s forests are not endless.”
Alec Giffen, director of the Maine Forest Service, said after the hearing that since the 1950s, the balance of new growth and harvesting has drawn almost equal, increasing the need for monitoring them into the future.
Other testimony focused on a range of issues from the judiciary to the Maine ethics commission, but in most cases Legislators invited the speakers back to work sessions that are scheduled through next week.
Rep. Emily Cain (D-Orono), co-chairwoman of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, said after the hearing that she was pleased to conclude the public hearings quickly, especially since Gov. Baldacci is set to release his biennial budget proposal Friday afternoon.
The proposal comes in light of an expected structural revenue shortfall of more than $800 million, which some predict will soon be closer to $1 billion. The biennial budget is the state’s spending plan for the two years beginning July 1, and is expected to consume much of the Legislature’s time between now and then.
