Federal Funding Change Putting State Forest Services at Risk 3/25/08

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The ropes attached to today’s federal funds are tangled in and around states’ goals and choices for everything from human services and university research to K-12 school systems.

U.S. Forest Service in Charge of National Forests, Grasslands

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The U.S. Forest Service manages and oversees both national forests and national grasslands, in addition to helping fund state forest services.

The USFS has land under its own jurisdiction in every state except Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Even Puerto Rico has a U.S. national forest.

The national grasslands outnumber the national forests throughout the High Plains. But, North Dakota and Kansas are the only U.S. states that just have a national grassland.

Source: http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/map/state_list.shtml.

Some new funding rules are adding a knotty twist, however, for state forest services – which deliver both state and private (e.g., tribal) forestry programs. The U.S. Forest Service has started a major shift that eventually could transfer 65 percent of states’ traditional base funding into a competitive grant pool.

The plan is to complete the shift within five years, said Ray Aslin, long-time head of the Kansas Forest Service. The USFS transferred 15 percent of states’ base into the pool last year and plans to take another 10 percent each year until it reaches the total.

By then, the change could very well be threatening some state forest services’ survival, while narrowly defining grant winners’ major programs, he said.

“State and private forestry programs in general haven’t fared well under recent Congresses and the current Administration. Those kinds of ups and downs aren’t that uncommon,” Aslin explained. “Washington’s concern now, though, is to ensure that most of what we have left goes for national forestry priorities in projects where Americans can get the biggest bang for the buck.”

States have always supported the U.S. Forest Service’s goals; so, USFS priorities are nothing new, he said. States such as Kansas didn’t receive an equal share of annual USFS allocations, however. A federal funding formula determined their share size, and they learned to get the most from every dollar.

Kansas Forest Service Supports State Quality
of Life

MANHATTAN, Kan. – State Forester Ray Aslin admits that he hears lots of jokes about his being a full-time “tree hugger” in the middle of the U.S. High Plains.

But, he’s likely to respond by outlining the concentrations in which the Kansas Forest Service now provides information, education, technical services and sometimes matching funds for state citizens:

* Riparian forestry - where trees are the biggest player in maintaining water-bank stability, flood control and water quality (via absorbing the contaminants in rain runoff).

* Conservation forestry - which includes annual KFS sales of low-cost, hardy tree and shrub seedlings, plus a host of related “how-to” publications and services. Its traditional and still biggest focus is to help Kansans abate the wind’s effects (alone and with snow) on agriculture, transportation, rural living, and natural resources that range from soil to wildlife.

* Fire management - particularly in rural areas, where wildfires are a constant danger, suburban homes can be wildfire magnets, and fire departments often are volunteers with aging equipment. The KFS also loans out Smokey Bear costumes and makes fire prevention materials available.

* Rural forestry - including best management practices for Kansas’ woodlands, woodlots, Christmas tree farms, pecan and walnut plantations, and five types of native forest – most of which are under private ownership in eastern Kansas. This includes individual consultations, field days and clinics on topics ranging from planting trees by the acre to operating a small sawmill.

* Community forestry - which encompasses the Tree City USA program, state Arbor Day poster contest, working relationships with local planners and personnel, and hands-on training for civic and commercial arborists – all of which can affect the quality of life in every Kansas community.

But, those less-than-equal states now are facing increasingly crucial fights for grants in which the winners take all, Aslin said. Their heavyweight rivals include state programs working with huge native forests, big timber industries, a larger tax base, more state resources, and/or big resident or tourist populations to affect.

Adding to the problem are some traditional, locally determined differences in how state services have supported USFS goals, he said. For example, “fire management” and Smokey Bear have meant quite different programs in such states as timbered Oregon, open-prairie North Dakota and highly populated Rhode Island.

The High Plains provide little protection from the forces of nature, Aslin continued. So, prairie states’ forestry programs have focused not only on woodlands but also on using trees to save, support or improve all natural resources – ranging from topsoil to songbirds. In Kansas, at least, that quickly led to yet another goal: to improve every citizen’s quality of life in a harsh environment.

Some highly populated states may have faced similar differences, he said, in how they could best support national priorities. For example, they may have lacked available or accessible land for true forests.

“I’m already working with state foresters to the north,” the forester said, “trying to develop combined grant proposals that the USFS might view as having a big enough impact.

“I have to worry, though, about how we’ll maintain the existing programs we think are important for Kansans – even, or perhaps especially if we manage to win some grants. Planning programs to please national grant providers isn’t necessarily the same as targeting those same programs to provide needed services at home.”

In addition to the USFS – which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – the Kansas Forest Service cooperates or works directly with state agencies, conservation districts, local tree boards, parks departments, landowners, educators, and tree-related businesspersons in Kansas. The KFS is aligned with Kansas State University Research and Extension; K-State’s College of Agriculture; and its Department of Horticulture, Forestry and Recreation Resources.

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.