Farm Bill 2014

Below is a copy of correspondence I received this week about the farm bill from the American Forest Foundation.  I thought I would share it with you.  Sounds good!

Dear Lamar,   Today, after months of negotiations, the Farm Bill Conference Committee released a final bipartisan, bicameral compromise bill.   If passed by the full House and Senate, this new Farm Bill would see huge wins for forest owners. Thanks to all your hard work and outreach, we should see significant improvements for family woodland owners in this legislation.   Basically, this is the best Farm Bill yet for forests. And it's all because of your great effort.   What's included? New market opportunities and further research on additional opportunities. Protection from unnecessary permit requirements on your forest roads. Protection from the threat of forest invasive pests. Improved access to tools and resources for forest stewardship. But we need your help!   In order to solidify these victories, we need your help. Please call your Senators and Representatives and encourage them to vote YES on the Farm Bill.   We expect to see a vote in the House on Wednesday and a vote in the Senate perhaps later this week.   We're almost to the Farm Bill finish line, but we need your help to ensure new legislation that makes sense for forest owners finally becomes law.   Thanks,   Christine Cadigan Public Affairs Manager American Forest Foundation   P.S. Want to know more? Check out our ATFS Farm Bill website and find details on all the forestry provisions.

Spring Hurry Up!

The "Boys of Spring" are tired of this cold weather. The weather forecasters are saying 10 in the morning and 10 to 19 next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I think these turkeys thought if they strutted some last week it might make spring come soon.

Random Shots and Burning Season

A neat little waterfall I found on the property we lease for hunting.  Not on our land but I added this picture because of the beauty. 

This was the sunrise last Monday on a cool January morning.  It was so clear and the sky was beautiful as the day began.

Prescribe Fire Time 

Tomorrow we plan to burn this two year old stand of longleaf pines.  After the burn I am going to make a picture from this same site to show the results.  Maybe the weather will cooperate so we can get this in tomorrow.  We may burn the seven year old stand of longleaf pines at McCollum this week too. After the burn I plan to add some pictures of the controlled burn to this blog as the fire is in progress.

The firelanes are in place and ready to start the burn first thing in the morning.

A Good Video

This is a link to a good video by Georgia Pacific: http://www.mnn.com/food/recipes/sponsorstory/georgia-pacific-and-sustainable-forestry-from-the-forest-through-the

Hope you enjoy!

2014: Off to a Good Start

What a better way to start off the new year, on the first day of the year, than getting out in the forest and planting a tree. 1/1/2014 date planted and James will be able to watch this tree grow and remember the date he planted it and the memories of where the tree came from and where the tree's new home is now. 

James and his Dad with the satisfaction of planting a new tree.  Nathan has planted many and now James is getting his turn at it.

I am so thankful for GOD allowing us the opportunity to have property that our grandchildren can go to and learn about things that really matter.  This boy could be like most children learning a new video game but instead he is learning to walk a foot log. He has in his hand a stick that a beaver had cut down and cleaned off the bark.  The thrill of crossing a log and not falling in the cold water is better than scoring so points on a computer game.  

This is the life for a country boy, so many things to do in the forest! 

Not everyone can do this, successfully!

Another Christmas Come and Gone

It has been a busy time trying to make all the Christmas family gatherings and a New Year is looked forward to.  Since last post we have been able to work some hunting in and arrangements are being made to reforest the area in 2014 where we completed the harvest cut.

This was one of the strangest things I have ever seen at sunrise over Dewberry Lands. It was cloudy except for the horizon on the eastern sky.  The sun came up shining under the clouds and at the same time there was light rain in the area.  The sun and the light rain made a rainbow that was vertical like none I had ever seen before and never a sunrise rainbow.

Just before dark my grandson and I came out of the woods from hunting on the property where we had timber cut, James found a stump cut off up high and he had to climb up on it.  He wanted his picture made.  He was a forest statue.

On another day we were hunting and he saw a spike coming out in the field where we were sitting in a stand. He pointed out the deer to me as came out in the field.  It kept coming until it was with in ten steps of us.  This was the closest a deer had been to him out in the wild.  I was able to get a picture of it as it came to us.

Nathan got his second buck Christmas Eve.  This was his second eight pointer, so for the remainder of the season he will have to be very selective of the last one he can harvest. There is a three buck limit in Alabama.

Wood For Buildings

Below is a link to a video about wood.  It was sent to me from the American Forestry Foundation and I wanted to share it so others could see it.  This is a really good video about how wood makes a building more appealing.
http://vimeo.com/62786226