The 2022 Public Policy Series included four seminars designed to provide a comprehensive detailed focus on legal, legislative and regulatory issues affecting timberland owners and forest product manufacturers:
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This seminar, previously referred to as the “AFA Government Affairs Committee Meeting” is held annually a week prior to the commencement of the Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature. The General Governance Seminar focuses on the state of the state and specifically addresses issues of importance to the state that will be topics during the upcoming legislative session. The General Governance in Alabama Seminar will be held on January 6-7, 2022 at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, AL.
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This seminar highlights the emergence of wood based building materials, including CLT, and the opportunities for increased utilization of the forest resource base. The Emerging Forest Technologies Seminar will be held on May 11-12, 2022 at The Lodge at Lake Guntersville State Park.
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This seminar will address tax policies, including the state’s ad valorem tax system; the manner and formulas for which these taxes are collected, the statutory and constitutional requirements that form the existing system, why the state’s policies include current use valuations. Additionally, other taxes that affect the timber industry will be addressed including sales taxes, fuel taxes, use taxes, income taxes and generational wealth transfer taxes. The Forest Economics Seminar will be held on July 21-22, 2022 at The Auburn Marriott Opelika Resort & Spa at Grand National.
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This seminar is held in conjunction with the Alabama Forestry Association’s Annual Meeting. The seminar’s focus is timberland ownership and focuses on forest stewardship, developing best management practices, the timber management regulatory framework, adherence to the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act and habitat management, as well as legal issues and generational wealth planning and transfer challenges. The Issues Affecting Timberland Ownership Seminar will be held on September 11, 2022 at The Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach, AL.
The Public Policy Fund also provides support to AFA’s Woods to Goods Week.
This week long event highlights forest industry’s social, environmental, and economic impact in the State of Alabama and the nation. It is held in conjunction with the national “National Forest Products Week” held every year on the third week of October. The 2022 Woods to Goods Week included mill tours, logging site visits, mill financial support for local schools and concluded with a Legislative Learn & Burn where members of the Alabama Senate Agriculture & Forestry Committee participated in an actual timberland burning event held on the State of Alabama’s Little River Forest in Monroe County.
