Reference documents:

• Sample letter to legislators (Microsoft Word Version or PDF version)
• Contact information for key legislators (PDF version)

NYFOA President Charles Stackhouse's letter to members:

Hello NYFOA members,

Last November I wrote our membership, encouraging you to contact Governor Cuomo and ask him to include funding for the “Empire Forests for the Future Initiative” (EFFI) in his Executive Budget for 2018-2019.

The good news is that, thanks to the efforts by NYFOA and a coalition of many other forest stakeholder organizations, EFFI did make it into the proposed budget. If approved by the legislature and the Governor, EFFI will include improvements to the Forest Tax Law and new forest stewardship incentive programs we have been fighting to get for many years.

The bad news is that the latest version of EFFI also includes a Timber Harvest Notification proposal that we feel is unnecessary, burdensome, and an infringement on individual property rights. John Bartow, Executive Director for the Empire State Forest Products Association, will be expressing our shared views on this matter at a budget hearing in Albany on February 7^th. It is important for NYFOA members, especially those who are constituents of members of the Senate Environmental Conservation/Agriculture Committee, to write or call their legislators and express support for EFFI with the exception of the Commercial Harvest Notification provision.

A link to a sample letter can be found on the NYFOA.org website homepage. There is also a link to contact information for the key Senators listed below.
This is an urgent request. Letters, phone calls and visits to District Offices must be accomplished by February 9^th in order to influence the final legislation.

Thank you once again for your efforts.

Charles Stackhouse, President

Key Senator list: Little (Chair), Bonacic, Ritchie, O’Mara, Funke, La Valle, Griffo, Tedisco, Helming, Avella, Savino, Valesky, Klein.