Timber Tax Workshop February 7th

A timber tax workshop is planned for Thursday February 7, 2008
at Foxdale Village Auditorium in State College, PA from 7-9 PM

The workshop is entitled Income Tax Considerations for Forest Landowners. Please join Dr. Michael Jacobson, Associate Professor of Forest Resources at Penn State for this two hour program focusing on tax and financial issues facing forest landowners. Taxation issues and financial planning are an integral part of any forest management operation. Owning forest land can be a source of income and an expense. Knowing how the IRS treats the income and expenses associated with owning forest land will help you avoid paying too much.

Rising property taxes, unexpected estate taxes, and the inability to manage the forest due to state or local regulations are driving land subdivision and conversion, thus making traditional forestland management activities more difficult to practice. Failing to consider the impacts of income taxes, property taxes and estate taxes can disrupt effective forest management, result in abandoning forestland ownership, or cause fragmenting the property in such a way that the benefits of past and future management are lost.

Topics to be covered include record keeping, determining your basis, passive losses, operating expenses, timber sales income, cost-sharing expenses, and estate planning. If you are concerned about the future of your forested parcel or have tax and estate planning questions concerning woodland ownership then this is a workshop you should plan on attending.

This program is being provided free of charge by members of the Woodland Owners Association of Centre County, Penn State Cooperative Extension and Penn State School of Forest Resources. No prior registration is required. Foxdale Village is located at 500 East Marylyn Avenue in State College. For more information or directions to the meeting location contact the Centre County Cooperative Extension office at 814-355-4897 or visit http://www.foxdalevillage.org/scmap.html for a map to Foxdale Village.


Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of special accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, contact Centre County Cooperative Extension at 814-355-4897 in advance of your participation of visit.

Alternative Fuel Demand Boosts Prices of Forest Products

January 4 – According to Forest2Market, Inc., power companies in the South and Pacific Northwest will drive prices for wood fuels higher as new facilities are built to produce an energy alternative to fossil fuels.

Forest2Market reports that "the supply of wood chips – a byproduct of lumber production used at pulp mills and power facilities – is dropping as residential construction drastically slows in the weak housing market. The reduced supply has raised prices by almost 10 percent since the third quarter of 2006."

For more information, visit the Forest2Market website.
http://www.forest2market.com/opencms/opencms/f2m/newsroom/News_20080104.html

New Deer Management Booklet Available

The Pennsylvania Game Commission has just completed a new 14 page booklet entitled Pennsylvania Deer Management. It covers many important topics pertaining to the management of Pennsylvania's deer herd. The first section highlights the three goals of the deer management plan. These include: Managing for a healthy herd; Managing for healthy forest habitat; and reducing deer-human conflicts. Other sections of the publication include: Deer impacts on other species; Concurrent seasons; Estimating Pennsylvania deer harvests; Why am I seeing fewer deer?; and lastly a section entitled Hunters: customers, partners, stakeholders.

To download a copy of the publication go to:
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/lib/pgc/pdf/2008_deer_management.pdf

Internet Seminar Addresses Strategies to Enhance Old Growth Features in Younger Forests

Old-growth forest was once the predominant natural condition across southern New England; however it is now one of the rarest habitats in our region. Although new old-growth forests cannot be created, the opportunity exists to restore old-growth characteristics in our current forests. A discussion of these strategies will be available on January 16, 2008 via the Cornell University ForestConnect Internet Seminar Series. Guest speaker Paul Catanzaro, Forest Resources Specialist from the University of Massachusetts, will discuss recent work done in collaboration with University of Minnesota silviculturalist Anthony D. Amato.

The ForestConnect Internet Seminar Series is an interactive web conference and was the first of its kind in the US. Each seminar uses the Internet to distribute, or webcast, a live and interactive presentation. Since May 2007, webcasts have connected forest owners, managers, and practitioners from throughout the United States and overseas. More than 350 owners and managers from 40 states and three countries are registered and receiving announcements for the monthly webcasts.

Seminars occur on the third Wednesday of each month. Each webcast is provided live, twice. The initial broadcast each month is from noon to 1:00 PM with a repeat live broadcast the same day from 7:00 to 8:00 PM, Eastern Time. Participation is as easy as a high-speed internet connection via a web browser. Participants will connect to a secure Cornell Cooperative Extension server to join the presentation. Participants must pre-register once, without charge, at www.ForestConnect.info. Email notification of internet URL details will be sent to everyone registered.