Read article here or jump to photos below.
Mississippi Forestry Association (MFA) hosted their annual Legislative Luncheon at the Marriott, downtown Jackson on Wednesday, March 5th. The MFA Government Affairs Committee and representatives from county forestry associations from all over the state attended to discuss current forestry issues with their state legislators. This year, the 230 luncheon attendees celebrated MFA’s 70th anniversary!
The Toast to Forestry theme was selected to commemorate this significant MFA anniversary and to encourage legislators to promote sustainable management of forests to enhance Mississippi’s natural resources, scientific research, and continued development of new economic opportunities with forest products that will benefit all citizens.
Gee Ogletree of Adams and Reese LLP and long time forestry activist was the luncheon speaker. He emphasized the successful partnership between MFA and the Mississippi Legislature by reviewing the top three pieces of legislation passed in the past 15 years.
In 1999, the Reforestation Tax Act was created giving landowners a $10,000 tax credit for investing in the future by planting trees. This legislation was the first of its kind in the nation and received the Award for Outstanding Forestry Legislation of 1999 presented by the National Woodland Owners Association. On the heels of Hurricane Katrina this landmark tax credit was expanded in 2007 to a lifetime limit of $75,000, giving Mississippi’s landowners a much needed incentive to replant their devastated forests.
In 1994, MFA worked to pass the landmark Forestry Activities Act, designed to protect and preserve the right to practice forestry in Mississippi.
In 1989 legislation was passed to establish a forest protection tax. This tax, paid by forest landowners statewide, provides funds for the Mississippi Forestry Commission to purchase fire fighting equipment to protect private and 16th Section Lands. This law still benefits private landowners, school districts and citizens today.
The Legislative Luncheon was organized by MFA’s County Forestry Association Committee, which represents the 62 county associations that are working in every forested county in Mississippi – 72 counties in all. There are well over 5,000 members of these local county forestry associations in Mississippi.
Mississippi leads the nation in successful county forestry association programs. Forestry affects the citizens of all 82 Mississippi counties and members of MFA are proud to be stewards of Mississippi’s 19 million acres of forestland and of this 13 billion dollar industry.
Mississippi Forestry Association is a private, nonprofit, statewide membership organization representing Mississippi’s entire forestry community. MFA’s mission is to lead diverse forestry groups to promote landowner rights, environmental stewardship, member prosperity, and community understanding. MFA is not a government agency and receives no government funding.
Directions to send news release, 2007 Harvest of Forest Products report and picture to the newspaper are below. Please call Amanda Box @ 601.354.4936 with any questions.
1. To select and email a picture, click the small picture to take you to the high resolution (best quality) image. Wait for the picture to fully download.
2. THEN, right click on the picture, select email picture, attach the news release, and 2007 forest products report and email it to your local paper. The news release and the 2007 Forest Products Report will provide great background for your local paper.
3. Be sure to include the correct spelling of names in the email.
Click here to for news release and click here for the 2007 Harvest of Forest Products article.
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