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Byron Martens
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Aurora Ballard
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Charles Bryant
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Martha Michel
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Robert Blackbourn
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Rhonda Schiel
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Ginger Boswell
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Dry Conditions: 03-12-00
the wise use of our Forest Resources
MCFLOA
4390 FM 1488 - Conroe, TX 77384
(409) 273-2120
The Montgomery County Forest Landowners Association is made up of individuals who own forest land in Montgomery County, who live in the county and own forest land elsewhere. It's purpose is to promote knowledge about good forest management among its members and to inform them about issues affecting management opportunities.
Benefits of membership include periodic newsletters, educational meetings, skills training and association with other forest landowners.
February 21, 2000 Meeting
Beetles and other Critters
Speaker :
Joe Pase
Texas Forest Service
Mr. Pase is our local expert on the many bugs that feed on our forest trees. He will discuss the identification and impact on the dominant beetle feeders, in particular the current problem with IPS.
When & Where :
Montgomery County Extension Office
in Conroe
Monday February 21 :
- 6:30 Dinner (for only $8.00)
- 7:00 Program
You do not have to be a member to attend our meetings! Bring a Guest!
Upcoming Programs:
March 13 :
April 20 :
May 18 :
Highlights from this months Newsletter
By Byron Martens
Driving any road in East Texas makes us alarmingly aware of the large number of trees killed by beetle infestation. I attended a meeting conducted by the Texas Forest Service to address the problems caused by our extended drought. Our trees are stressed and being invaded by the IPS beetles. According to Texas A & M etomologists there is no remedy. The long-term outlook for rain is poor. This impacts our established stands and the planting of seedlings. TFS is working hard to minimize the damage.
Our entire membership has received some information concerning new regulations proposed by the EPA to control point of source pollution during silvaculture activities. The EPA proposed that a permit be required to practice forestry as we have historically done so. Such practices as logging, road building, controlled burns, herbicide application, site preparation, pest and fire control may require a government permit. MCFLOA membership individually and as a group have responded to the EPA through letters. Over-regulation of the forest industry is possible in spite of a verifiable record of good management practices.
The Texas Forestry Assoc. is in need of volunteers to man a booth at the Houston Livestock Show. This event runs from February 18th to March 5th. Generally shifts run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 3 p.m. to 9p.m. This is a great opportunity to influence urban voters about forestry. Call Caryn at 409/632-TREE if you can work a shift or two.
MCFLOA will again sponsor a booth at the Montgomery County Fair from March 17th to March 26th. Please help by working a short shift during one day of the fair. You will be contacted and hopefully respond to help with this outreach.
If you have a need for a computer generated, high quality and detailed colored aerial photograph of your land, they are available at a very nominal cost. Contact John Ross of TFS, Ron Huffard of TFA or me for information. This new technology could be a great tool in negotiations with the Appraisal District.
We have received a great letter from Texas Parks and Wildlife. Anyone interested in putting a wildlife demonstration area on their land can contact Scotty Parsons- Forest Stewardship Biologist at 409/569-1632. They can probably get the seed donated by the National Wild Turkey Federation and Quail Unlimited.
Be on the lookout for the notice of a ONE*DAY LANDOWNER WORKSHOP to be conducted at the Arthur Temple College of Forestry in Nacodoches during March or April. It will cover 8 topics very relavent to the small landowner.
By John Fancher, Fair Committee
It is time to ask the members to help man the MCFLOA booth at the Montgomery County Fair. For those of you who have helped in the past we would like to use you again. New members we could sure use your help. We ask for volunteers to man the booth in 2-hour shifts, and be there mainly to answer the questions, what is MCFLOA, and why do you belong? We will be circulating a roster at the next meeting, and making phone calls in early March to all others. MCFLOA needs your help, after all it is your organization and, only works with membership participation.
Fire Drought Situation- According to Tom Spencer, fire behavior analyst with the Texas Forest Service, Montgomery County is still in a drought situation. We are currently 400% drier than normal according to our soil moisture readings. To date, we have currently received 2.08" of rain in Montgomery County, which is around 2" behind normal. Combine this to the fact that we are 15" to 20" behind last year's totals and you can see the situation we are in.
Statewide- the driest areas are in Central, North Central, and Southeast Texas. There are currently 107 counties who have established burning bans on outdoor burning (including Montgomery County). Due to the recent rains, 1" or so in our area, the number of fire occurrences has dropped giving the VFD and TFS crews a much needed rest (however, they were back at it again Super Bowl Sunday). Please Contact the County Fire Marshall's office before you burn.
Tree Planting- The dry conditions have hampered our reforestation efforts. Many tracts are still too dry to plant and we are making recommendations based on individual site surveys. In other words, get out on the property and dig some holes to check moisture levels 0-12" in the soil. We are expecting a drier than normal year, so it is important to have sufficient moisture available. Our nursery still has plenty of Pine Seedlings available if you are interested in planting. Contact your local Texas Forest Service office for more information.
By John Fancher, NRCS Forester
The cost-share programs are available to assist landowners with installing or improving conservation practices. They are the Forest Incentive Program-FIP, and the Environmental Quality Incentive Program-EQIP.
If any of these programs interest you please call the NRCS on Conroe at 936-756-4135, or the Texas Forest Service at 936-273-2261.
Take advantage of your Member Benefits !
Notes about this Website This website is Under Development and will continue to evolve for MCFLOA Members. Temporary hosting by Boswell Farms
Web Hosting info sites :
Domain Name : MCFLOA.ORG
Mindspring Lite (very cheap with 5 MB space, but long URL address)
Verio Basic (commercial web hosting with 50 MB space)
This prototype site consists of two pages and a few graphics and supporting files, and uses about 100 Kb or 0.1 Mb of space.
Approx cost to provide a website as : www.mcfloa.org
Name Registration (for 2 years) $70
Web Host Setup (Verio) $50
Web Hosting per month (Verio) $25
Total Initial Cost : $145
Total First Year Cost : $420 (includes initial charges)
Second Year Cost : $300
Benefits: Increased public visibility, promote membership, communication archive, easier access to useful information, education resources, enhanced service to members, possible cost savings in newsletter distribution, possible advertising revenue.
Please send all feedback/correction/omission/suggestions to webmaster .
Our goal is to make this site reasonably useful and active asap. Thank you for your help.
All Officers and Members are requested to submit content.
Please send stswebmaster email with attached files in Word or text to include on this site.
Enjoy!
http://www.mindspring.com/~us034867/MCFLOA/mcfloa.html
Last updates were on March 18, 2000. Links updated Sept 11, 2000
Please email comments to webmaster
© Copyright 2000 by MCFLOA. All rights reserved.
Links
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Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M
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