USDA Forest
Service
Northeastern Area
Durham Field Office
271 Mast Road
Durham, NH 03824
(v) (603) 868-7600
(f) (603) 868-7604
(tdd) (603) 868-7603
|
 |
Third Quarter FY2004
The Tract Record
Number of Appraisers Who Have Taken Required Course Is Reaching
Critical Mass
The number of fee appraisers qualified to
appraise Forest Legacy projects is increasing. Since January 2004,
over 150 appraisers
have taken the seminar on Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal
Land Acquisitions, commonly known as the Yellow Book standards.
The latest Yellow Book course was conducted in Portland, Maine,
May 7–8. Several fee appraisers cited the requirement that appraisals
for Forest Legacy properties must meet Yellow Book standards as
their reason for attending. It is encouraging that the number of
fee appraisers familiar with the Yellow Book is increasing. While
the course is designed for appraisers, it has benefits for Forest
Legacy managers as well. Program personnel who have attended relate
that the literacy in appraisals they gained was well worth the
time. The next course offered by the Appraisal Institute will be
held October 20–21 in Tampa, Florida. Further information is available
at http://www.appraisalinstitute.org.
The USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area will soon be advertising
for a GS-12/13 Review Appraiser to work on the Forest Legacy Program.
Forest Service Officials Go to Camp
NA Forest Service officials
and a guest from the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands spent a day
in April at the Broad Creek Boy
Scout Camp, a Maryland Forest Legacy project, near Aberdeen during
a review of Maryland’s
Forest Legacy Program (FLP). The government officials were infused
with
the enthusiasm
of the camp staff, who described the long-term relationships that
campers have with the property. Indeed, many of the staff were
Broad Creek campers in the days of their youth. The review involved
integral participants to the FLP in Maryland in office and field
sessions, where discussions with program partners and the State
Legacy Program coordinators took place. The purpose of a program
review is to cooperatively review a State’s program and develop
recommendations to improve program implementation by both the State
and Federal partners.
House Marks up Interior Appropriations Bill—More than Halves
President’s Forest Legacy Budget
The House of Representatives passed their version of the 2005
Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act on June 17, 2004, in which funding for the Forest Legacy Program
is identified. The House Forest Legacy Program mark of $43,119,000
is $54,900,000 less than the amount proposed by the President for
2005 ($100,019,000). The bill stipulates that an additional $5,300,000
of projects are to be covered with prior year funds. The Senate
is expected to act on their version of the appropriations bill
soon.
Northeastern Area Forest Legacy Meeting in Fame(ous) Town
In
a town that pays tribute to high standards through the Professional
Football Hall of Fame—Canton, Ohio—the Northeastern Area Forest
Legacy Program partners met June 17–18, 2004. The meeting included
the Northeastern Area Forest Legacy Hall of Fame awards, which
recognized States for different categories such as heaviest conservation
easement, favorite project name, and State most likely to protect
the one-millionth acre in the FLP. More process-oriented subjects
that were covered included conservation easement monitoring, conservation
easement language, appraisals, project presentation, and a national
update. On the evening of June 17, participants visited the Hall
of Fame to explore the history of professional football. Many learned
more about their favorite football players and perhaps discovered
that their home town once hosted a professional football team,
such as the Providence Steam Rollers, the Canton Bulldogs, or the
Duluth Eskimos.
Recently Completed FLP Projects
Delmarva Conserved Lands Expand
Delaware completed its first
Forest Legacy project when the State purchased a conservation easement
on a 908-acre tract on May 7,
2004. The tract represents the first phase of the Green Horizons
Forest Legacy project in the Redden/Ellendale Legacy Area. This
project was the culmination of a multi-organization initiative
involving public and private partners, including the Delaware Department
of Agriculture–Forest Service, the Delaware Open Space Program,
the Delaware Department of Transportation, the Sussex County Land
Trust, and numerous individual donors. The State of Delaware purchased
a conservation easement on the property valued at $4,800,000 using
$1,994,000 from the Forest Legacy Program. The conservation of
this tract will help establish a corridor of protected lands within
the central portion of the Delmarva Peninsula from the Chesapeake
Bay to the Delaware Bay.
Gnaw Bone Camp Conserved for Future Generations of Campers
The
Nashville area of Brown County in Indiana has long been known for
its artist colony and spectacular fall foliage. Now, nestled
in the nearby forested hills lies Indiana’s latest and largest
Forest Legacy project. On June 17, 2004, the decades-long conservation
efforts of Fred Lorenz culminated in Governor Joseph Kernan’s acceptance
of a 1,368-acre conservation easement on the Gnaw Bone Camp. The
current owners, sisters Alice Lorenz and Linda Norton, have followed
in their father’s footsteps and left a legacy for future generations.
Gnaw Bone Camp began with a simple purchase of 46 2/3 acres in
1943 as a place for Fred Lorenz to take Scouts for weekend outings
and grew to a rustic summer camp for young boys and girls that
continues to build living legacies even today. Gnaw Bone Camp lies
just outside Indiana’s most popular State Park and begins a bridge
to link thousands of acres of State and federally owned forest
lands. The conservation easement, valued at $2,420,000, was acquired
for $1,818,749, with the landowners contributing $601,251 in a
bargain sale arrangement.
Big Woods Forest Legacy Project Continues to Grow
The Big
Woods Project in the Rice County Big Woods Forest Legacy Area in
southern Minnesota extended conservation easement protection
to an additional six tracts totaling 291 acres, bringing the total
area protected in Minnesota’s Big Woods to 1,046 acres. The six
tracts are valued at $853,500; the Forest Legacy Program provided
$614,500, landowner donations through bargain sales were worth
$70,450, and the State of Minnesota contributed the remaining $168,550.
These six properties—7-Mile Woods #8 & #9, Nerstrand Woods
#4, #6, and #7, and Cannon River Wilderness #2—encompass a wide
range of forest types and habitats, including maple/basswood forests,
oak forests, bottomland hardwoods, oak savanna, and regenerating
forests. These protection efforts are the culmination of over 10
years of a community-wide effort to protect and restore Minnesota’s
Big Woods.
|
|
 |
These protection efforts are the culmination of over 10
years of a community-wide effort to protect and restore Minnesota’s
Big Woods.
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
