by NYFOA Director, Stacey Kazcos

A. Empire State Forests for the Future (ESFF): This is the governor's proposal to bolster the forest products industry and support private forest landowners (e.g. through 480-B, and grants for private forest land stewardship).

The ESFF did not go anywhere. The governor mentioned ESFF in his State of the State speech. There was talk of a "departmental budget" after ESFF did not receive conventional budget consideration. None of this happened. In all likelihood, there will not be further consideration of funding this proposal in fiscal year 2017.

Under the Council of Forest Resource Organizations (CFRO), there will be a conference call after July 4th to discuss next steps. Examples of possible next steps include setting up forestry related tours for key legislators All of this would be with an eye on the 2018 budget cycle.

B. Council of Forest Resource Organizations: The CFRO will meet on July 12 in Albany. NYFOA will have at least three board members at this meeting. We will discuss plans for the 2018 Forestry Awareness Day (FAD). The feedback from the various CFRO members on the 2017 FAD is that we need to refine the scope and detail of the recommendations we provide to NYS legislators. FAD participants felt there was way too much information to convey in 10 minutes -- and the impact was greatly diminished.

On a related note, the CFRO added a new member organization: The Council of Independent Foresters