NH Senate supports study on low-cost firewood

[woodbooga]

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=10116198&nav=4QcS

NH Senate supports study on low-cost firewood

April 2, 2009 6:35 AM ET

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The New Hampshire Senate has voted to support a study to look at providing low-cost firewood from state lands to low-income individuals.

Recommendations would be made by Nov. 1, 2010.

Bill sponsor Matthew Houde, D-Plainfield, says he thinks the state has a chance to avoid a repeat of last fall, when home heating fuel costs doubled. He said the need for assistance is likely to increase and the state needs to look at cost-effective alternatives for helping people who struggle to pay to heat their homes.

The bill now heads to the House.

 

[Dalmatian90]

Couple things I've read recently about Connecticut:

1) A UConn professor whose been doing an efficiency study on State Government (pause while waiting for laughter to die down) pointed out the current law is the DEP can keep anything over $600,000 from logging on state lands.

They don't budget enough for foresters to supervise that much logging.

He recommended it be changed to they keep the first $400,000 and hire three more foresters with the money, and the surplus goes to the general fund.

Because of the shortage in foresters, the DEP also doesn't guarantee they can meet all the demand for firewood permits ($30/cord). Got the wood, don't got the time to mark it for harvest.

2) Connecticut is currently harvesting 2.5 Million board feet from it's State Forests annually. Setting aside 40% of the land as to environmentally sensitive, inaccessible, or otherwise off limits...the sustainable yield on the remaining 60% of state land is 10 Million board feet per year for 50 years, then dropping to 6.5 Million board feet for the foreseable future.

I don't know how you translate that into cords or estimate how much cord wood you'd remove doing management thinnings...but it's a lot.

--------
In addition, if you had foresters available there is a huge amount of firewood that could be marked on town and land trust owned woodlands as well. There are 62,000 acres owned by private land trusts in Connecticut (compared to 170,000 acres of state forests). I'd bet a similiar amount is owned as conservation and reservoir lands by the towns and small cities...plus the Hartford MDC owns 30,000 acres of watershed lands alone.

There's a lot of wood out there.

 

[ericjeeper]

Oh my lands

Guberment going to give away free firewood.. I can't wait.. Maybe I can sell some windows with a six inch round hole for a flue to be ran out of every mobile home and rental house in your state..
I see dead people..

 

[mga]

low-income individuals

did they describe what that was?

.

 

[AOD]

I see dead people..

Me too.

 

[husky455rancher]

now when a trailer burns to the ground the fire chief will have two options on why that happened. 1. fell asleep with the crack pipe or 2. incorrect useage of a woodstove.

 

[HuskyMike]

Wow, Mobile homes, crack pipes? what do you think NH is all about??

Anyway, I E-mailed the State a while ago to see about harvesting trees on state lands. NH don't do that. I know other states go in and paint trees and then let the public apply for a harvest permit. It is like real cheap with a maximum take limit. I think it is a good idea provided no one kills themselves in the process.

Amazingly, last I heard, NH has the 2nd lowest poverty level in the country. What is "poverty" I don't know.

 

[woodbooga]

Wow, Mobile homes, crack pipes? what do you think NH is all about??

Anyway, I E-mailed the State a while ago to see about harvesting trees on state lands. NH don't do that. I know other states go in and paint trees and then let the public apply for a harvest permit. It is like real cheap with a maximum take limit. I think it is a good idea provided no one kills themselves in the process.

Amazingly, last I heard, NH has the 2nd lowest poverty level in the country. What is "poverty" I don't know.

Lots of trailers out my way, but I live close to the armpit of the state. Crack's not a problem, though. Too expensive.

The story I quoted in the OP is pretty vague. I'm hoping that your take on it is correct.

Maybe the state will issue 'wood bucks'

Don't take any wooden nickels, TreeCo.


In related news - just south of the border:

http://www.eagletribune.com/punewshh/local_story_091005903.html?keyword=topstory

Haverhill residents will have to wait to harvest downed trees on city land
By Mike LaBella
[email protected]

HAVERHILL — A proposal by City Councilor David Hall to allow residents to remove tree trunks, limbs and branches that came down during a fierce December ice storm did not gain City Council approval last night.

But the idea isn't dead.

The council sent the proposal to the city's Natural Resources Committee with expectations it will come before the council for a hearing.

Last night, Hall said his plan would be a win-win for Haverhill and its residents. He said the city would get free help in removing debris that lines roads and parks and residents who can't afford to pay $275 for a cord of firewood could harvest wood for free without the threat of being arrested. A cord of cut and split firewood measures 4 feet high, 4 feet deep and 8 feet long.

"So many people that burn wood in their houses and apartments have asked me if they can come onto city land to cut wood," Hall said.

The idea of residents running around on city land carrying gas-powered chain saws alarmed Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien, who said she had never heard of any community allowing something like this.

"There's something about it that makes me nervous," she said. "And if anyone is going to gain a profit I hope it would be the city."

Although Hall did not outline the details of his proposed plan last night, he has said he would like to see a process that would include requiring anyone who wants to cut the wood to register with the city's tree warden, who would then visit, inspect and mark the downed tree in preparation for it being cut and hauled away.

Before chopping the wood up, the resident also would have to sign an insurance liability waiver form, Hall had said. The form would protect the city from being sued should anyone get hurt while cutting wood on city land.

Hall told The Eagle-Tribune that his idea is not intended to benefit people who are in the business of cutting and selling firewood.

Councilor William Macek, who heads the Natural Resources Committee, wanted to see a plan that "works for everyone," and went so far as to suggest the idea of allowing residents to take down live trees through a strictly controlled form of woodland tree harvesting.

Whether harvesting live trees or cutting up downed trees in the city's forests, Councilor William Ryan made his concerns known for how any such plan would be policed, saying the city has only one conservation officer.

"No one should be allowed to go into our forests to cut wood for their own private use," Ryan said.

Hall assured the committee that under his plan, no one would be allowed to cut down a living tree on city land.

Hall's proposal came a week after the City Council waived, for nine dates this month, the $7 one-day fee residents are charged to bring tree limbs and branches to the Recycling Center at the public works yard on Primrose Street.