HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3096        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 813

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act regulating timber harvesting..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the state forestry committee (the “committee”) shall adopt regulations to substantially eliminate liquidation harvesting.

SECTION 2.  No later than December 1, 2009, the Committee shall provisionally adopt rules to substantially eliminate liquidation harvesting by requiring measures that include, without limitation, increased professional involvement in planning and implementation of timber harvesting activities on forestlands.  Regulations adopted pursuant to this section must require that timber harvesting activities be conducted with attention to long-term forest management principles and include appropriate exemptions, including, but not limited to, exemptions for landowners and land managers with independent 3rd-party certification, harvests covering small acreages and permitted land conversions. The regulations must apportion appropriate legal responsibilities to landowners, foresters and loggers for compliance with the regulations.

The Committee shall consult with the commissioner of conservation and recreation, the commissioner of the department of environmental protection, and the commissioner of fisheries and wildlife to ensure that regulations regarding forestry practices are consistent with environmental and wildlife habitat protection.

SECTION 3.   No later than January 1, 2010, the Committee shall report to the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture with recommendations and an implementation plan for solutions to the issue of liquidation harvesting. The committee shall review, at a minimum, the following:

     1. Improvements to standards and guidelines for timber harvests;

     2. Increased professional involvement in timber harvests;

     3. Improved professional accountability of foresters;

     4. Modifications to land use laws;

     5. Disincentives to liquidation harvesting;

     6. Incentives for landowners who receive independent, 3rd-party certification that their forest lands are well managed;

     7. Economic policies to expand markets for forest products harvested from well-managed forests and to promote the Commonwealth as a world leader in green-certified forest lands and forest products; and

     8. Other relevant approaches.

     In conducting the review, the committee shall solicit input from representatives of the forestry industry, including professional loggers, state agencies, and municipalities, industrial and nonindustrial landowners, environmental groups, financial institutions, Legislators and members of the public.

     The final report shall include proposed changes to existing laws, rules and policies necessary to implement the recommendations.