NHTOA News

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PretiFlaherty, the Concord, N.H.-based law firm that is well-known in the Granite State's forest products industry, has created a tool to help small business owners in the industry navigate through the federal government's requirements and options for for COVID-19-related employer relief. Click here to download a PDF of this highly useful tool.

For more information, go to www.preti.com

 

Details

Forest Products Listed as "Essential Industry" Under Governor's Order

Yesterday, March 26, Governor Sununu issued Emergency Order #17 (a.k.a. the "stay at home" order). Accompanying this order was a list of "essential industries" that are exempt from the order. Forest products businesses are on this list and therefore exempt. (To see the full list, click here. To see the text of Executive Order #17, click here.) In addition to sawmills, "Forest products" includes those businesses that support the manufacturing and distribution of timber and forest products (i.e., loggers, truckers, foresters, etc.). It is also worth noting that forest products businesses appear several places on the order as noted below:

Food and Agriculture

  • Workers who support the manufacture and distribution of forest products, including, but not limited to timber, paper, and other wood products.

Transportation and Logistics

  • Manufacturers and distributors (to include service centers and related operations) of packaging materials, pallets, crates, containers, and other supplies needed to support manufacturing, packaging staging and distribution operations

 Energy

  • Workers who maintain, ensure, or restore the reliable generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power, including call centers, utility workers, reliability engineers and fleet maintenance technicians

Health Care/Public Health/Human Services

  • Manufacturers, technicians, logistics and warehouse operators, and distributors of or necessary to the supply chain of medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), medical gases, pharmaceuticals, blood and blood products, vaccines, testing materials, laboratory supplies, cleaning, sanitizing, disinfecting or sterilization supplies, and tissue and paper towel products.

Although Emergency Order #17 does exempt Forest Products businesses, the order still urges these businesses to follow social distancing protocols for employees in accordance with guidance from the Department of Public Health, including but not limited to:

1. Prohibiting all gatherings with more than 10 individuals.

2. Keeping all personnel six feet apart.

3. Encouraging employees to stay home when sick, and sending home those who report feeling ill or display symptoms.

Please call or email the NHTOA office if you have any questions. Note that there could be a delay in the office's response due to work-at-home requirements.

Details

In the wake of Gov. Sununu's Emergency Order #17 issued on March 26, 2020 -- the "stay at home" order to help prevent the spread of coronavirus -- the following changes have been made to the schedule of upcoming classes, workshops, and events hosted by the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association:

  • All Professional Logger Program (PLP) and Landowner classes and workshops are cancelled until May 4, 2020. Please check the NHTOA website for any further updates or postponements of classes/workshops. Please call the NHTOA office for information about rolling any prepaid registration fees to fall PLP and Landowner classes or about refunds. 
  • The 109th NHTOA Annual Meeting has been postponed until June 13, 2020. It will still be held at Sanborn Mills Farm, Loudon, N.H. All registrations already made for the Meeting's original date (May 2) will be applied to the new date.
  • The New Hampshire Forest Career Field Day, originally scheduled for May 7, 2020, at Bear Brook State Park, has been postponed until the spring of 2021. Watch the NHTOA website for new dates and information. Exhibitors who booked exhibit space for the original date should contact Cheri Birch, NHTOA's program director, for information about applying fees to the rescheduled event or about refunds.
  • The "Forests of New Hampshire Teacher Tour," July 21-24, is still scheduled. Click here for more information.  

 

 

Details

Citing the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security's memo of March 19 declaring the forest products industry to be "essential" in a number of ways (manufacture of paper products, lumber for infrastructure, pallets for shipping, production of energy, etc.), the NHTOA has written to N.H. Gov. Chris Sununu requesting that N.H.'s forest products industry also be declared "essential" should any shelter-in-place orders be issued by the Governor's office for the Granite State.
"New Hampshire’s forest products industry is interconnected. Loggers that produce saw logs for lumber and pallets also produce wood chips for power plants and institutional heating and they produce pulp wood for paper making. Sawmills that produce lumber also produce wood chips for electricity, heat, and papermaking," stated the letter, which was signed by NHTOA executive director Jasen Stock. "Lose one piece of this interconnected web and the remaining portions will be impacted."
 
Read the full letter here. The Dept. of Homeland Security's March 19, 2020, memo can be read here. 
To date, Sununu has not issued a shelter-in-place order for New Hampshire.
Details
  1. NHTOA 109th Annual Meeting Set for June 13, 2020
  2. New Hampshire 2020 Legislative Session Opens
  3. Call for Awards
  4. NH Forest Career Field Day
  5. NH Timber Harvesting Council Establishes Fund to Provide Short-Term Financial Relief for Injured Loggers
  6. NHTOA Extremely Disappointed by Governor's Veto of HB 183
  7. N.H. House Passes Biomass-Amended HB 183 In Strong Vote
  8. 2019 Kendall Norcott Award: Michael O’Leary
  9. 2019 President’s Award: Sen. Jeb Bradley
  10. 2019 Outstanding Forest Industry: Pine Tree Lumber, Steve and Renee Patten
  11. 2019 Outstanding Logger: Heath Bunnell, HB Logging
  12. RFP for Biomass Chips in Sullivan County
  13. HB 543 Talking Points -- This Bill Needs to be Defeated
  14. State Senators, Representives Urge PUC to Implement SB 365
  15. Sen. Bradley Tours DiPrizio Pine Sales, Talks Up HB 365
  16. Current Use Board Proposes New Assessment Fees, Rules; Hearings Scheduled
  17. Talking Points for NHDES Wetlands Rules Public Hearings
  18. NHDES Issues New Draft Wetlands Rules; Public Hearings to Be Held in December
  19. Managed Forests Can Bolster Domestic Energy Production, Says Administration
  20. Partial Victory! Legislature Overrides Sununu Veto on SB 365; Sustains SB 446 Veto
  21. New Hampshire Tells Legislature: Override the Sununu Energy Vetoes
  22. State House Veto Override Rally Gets Good Coverage
  23. Hundreds Gather at State House Plaza to Demand Overrides to Vetoes of SB 365, 446
  24. Tom Thomson Describes Importance of Overriding SB 365, SB 446 Vetoes in Two New Videos
  25. Sen. Shaheen Tours Audubon Timber Sale, Learns Wildlife Management Not Possible Without Woodchip Market from Biomass
  26. How to Write an Effective Letter to the Editor
  27. Rain Doesn't Deter Big Crowd at Bethlehem Veto-Overturn Rally
  28. Video from Sen. Kevin Avard Stresses Importance of Overturning Sununu Vetoes of SB 365 and SB 446
  29. State House Rally in Concord Sept. 6!
  30. Sandwich Select Board Supports Veto Override
  31. Valley News Covers Devastating Impact on Springfield Power of Sununu Vetoes
  32. A Tree Grows in Rumney
  33. New Rallies to Overturn Sununu's Misguided SB 365, 446 Vetoes Added to Schedule
  34. Date Set for Veto Override Vote: Upcoming Veto Overturn Rallies
  35. Sen. Bradley Urges Override of Sununu Vetoes of SB 365 and SB 446 at Pinetree-Tamworth Biomass Plant
  36. Huge Turnout for July 12 Meeting to Discuss Moving Forward from Vetoes of SB 365, 446
  37. July 12 Meeting to Discuss Sununu Vetoes of SB 365, 446: Details
  38. Valley News Reports on Devastating Impact on Local Loggers of Sununu's Biomass Vetoes
  39. NHTOA Extremely Disappointed by Governor’s Veto of Crucial Biomass Bills
  40. Energy Attorney Robert Olson Honored with NHTOA President's Award
  41. Rick Grover, Scott Piper Given 2018 Outstanding Forest Industry Awards by the NHTOA
  42. David Rondeau Named New Hampshire's Outstanding Logger for 2018
  43. Karen Bennett Receives NHTOA's Kendall Norcott Award for Exceptional Service
  44. Upcoming May, June, July NHTOA Landowner Classes -- Mark Your Calendars
  45. Good News from the N.H. State House
  46. EPA Calls Biofuels from Managed Forests "Carbon-Neutral"
  47. Are You Registered for the NHTOA Annual Meeting?
  48. NHPR's "The Exchange" Examines Current Use
  49. WMNF Presents Wanosha Project Details
  50. New Tax Fact Sheet Available for Timber Income & Expenses for 2017 Tax Year
  51. Blackfly Breakfast Coming Up on April 17
  52. CALL TO ACTION: Final DES Wetlands Hearing in Lancaster on Thursday, March 15
  53. NHDES Issues Disappointing Proposed Wetlands Rules; NHTOA Comments
  54. N.H. Executive Council Votes to Help Fish & Game Dept. Patrol OHRV Trespass
  55. Biomass, SB 129 Update
  56. NHTOA Applauds Rep. Kuster’s Support for Resilient Federal Forests Act
  57. State Roads Improving, Local Roads Still a Mess
  58. Farm Tractors in Forestry Class Is a Big Hit
  59. NH Timber Harvesting Council Honors Past Chairmen
  60. Chris Goodnow is New Timber Harvesting Council Chairman
  61. SB 129 Becomes Law
  62. NHTOA Applauds Today’s House Vote for Senate Bill 129
  63. Gene Chandler, N.H. Representative, Honored with NHTOA President’s Award
  64. Magoon Logging Named New Hampshire’s Outstanding Logger for 2017
  65. NHTOA Elects David Marden to Board of Directors
  66. John Caveney Receives NHTOA’s Kendall Norcott Award for Exceptional Service
  67. Media Coverage of SB 129 Hearing Focuses on Issues Critical to Forest Industry
  68. Critical SB 129 Hearing on Biomass Coming Up on Tuesday, April 11
  69. Washington, DC, Trip Brings Forest Issues to Nation's Capital
  70. NHTOA's SB 129 Testimony
  71. Support SB 129 for Biomass Sustainability (and a short class in "Renewable Portfolio Standard Law 101")
  72. Industry Comes Out in Force to Oppose HB 225
  73. Kill the Bill! NHTOA Requests NH Legislature to Vote Down HB 225
  74. Sawmill Report Now Available on Website
  75. Log-A-Load Raises $6,800 for CHaD
  76. Rocky Bunnell Puts on a President's Award
  77. New Report: $36M Benefit to N.H. Economy from Heating Commercial, Community, Institutional Buildings with Wood
  78. DRA Schedules Forums on Current Use Rates, Other Current Use Changes
  79. Full Slate of PLP Classes Now Available for Registration
  80. New National Monument Concerns Maine Loggers
  81. NHTOA's 2nd Annual Log-a-Load Fun Shoot Raises Nearly $7,000 for Children's Hospital at Dartmouth
  82. "Big Crowd Questions, Comments On Conte Refuge Expansion Plan"
  83. Facts about New Hampshire’s Forest and Forest Economy*
  84. "Swift Corwin and a Timber Sale at St. Paul's School "
  85. "Strong turnout at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hearings – expansion concerns raised"
  86. "Fort Mountain and NHTOA Partner to Provide a Learning Opportunity for a Young Student"
  87. "As firewood prices rise, fracking partially to blame"
  88. "The NHTOA Position on Silvio Conte Wildlife Refuge Expansion: Bad for Wildlife, Bad for N.H. Forestry "
  89. "Endangered Species Act - Northern Long-Eared Bat (NLEB)"