NAFO (National Alliance of Forest Owners) » environment

NAFO Comments on Pesticide Application Permit

NAFO — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:25:42 +0000

NAFO submitted official comments today to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the Draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Pesticide General Permit for Point Source Discharges From the Application of Pesticides, 75 Fed. Reg. 31,775.

Sustainability

NAFO — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:31:50 +0000

In May, NAFO’s Board of Directors adopted membership principles on sustainable forest management.

38 Members of Congress Support EPA Rule on Pesticides

NAFO — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:54:23 +0000

A bipartisan group of 38 Senators and Representatives filed an amicus brief in American Farm Bureau Federation v. Baykeeper and CropLife America v. Baykeeper. The decision in the cases threaten an Environmental Protection Agency rule that provided that pesticides applied in accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungivide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) do not constitute a discharge of a pollutant requiring a Clean Water Act permit. FIFRA already regulates the proper use of pesticides. Requiring an additional permit is overly burdensome and duplicative. This is designed to increase the burden to use pesticides – a limited but important tool to maintain forest health.

Labor Regulations Pose Risk to Reforestation

NAFO — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:29:49 +0000

Draft regulations on guest workers for reforestation work pose a risk to domestic reforestation of private and public lands. NAFO submitted comments on the draft regulations today, stating, in part:

NAFO urges the Department to reconsider this approach and retain reforestation as part of the H-2B program. Failure to do this will negatively affect reforestation efforts and cause significant harm to the economic viability of long-term forest management.

Reforestation work differs significantly enough from annual agricultural crops that the mandates for the H-2A program don’t fit reforestation. For example, because of the spatial arrangement of forests on the landscape and the decades-long growing cycle, work sites vary from year to year and may stretch across multiple states. Additionally, reforestation is much more susceptible to weather and other delays, including: too hot; snow; too wet; too dry; early or late seedling shipments; and the requirements of site preparation.

Read the entire comments (PDF).

NAFO supports EPA rule on pesticides and the Clean Water Act

NAFO — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:28:47 +0000

The National Alliance of Forest Owners joined a number of other parties in an amicus brief in American Farm Bureau Federation v. Baykeeper and CropLife America v. Baykeeper. The decision in the cases threaten an Environmental Protection Agency rule that provided that pesticides applied in accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungivide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) do not constitute a discharge of a pollutant requiring a Clean Water Act permit. FIFRA already regulates the proper use of pesticides. Requiring an additional permit is overly burdensome and duplicative. This is designed to increase the burden to use pesticides – a limited but important tool to maintain forest health.

EPA’s Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for Sulfometuron Methyl

NAFO — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:27:24 +0000

On January 12, 2009, NAFO submitted comments in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) on the herbicide, sulfometuron methyl, a key herbicide used in forest operations. The RED was issued pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) on November 12, 2008.

Read NAFO’s comments here (PDF).