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CONSERVATION CORNER
(For the week of November 5, 2007)
Barbour Commends Forestry Commission
by James L. Cummins

Governor Haley Barbour recently commended the Mississippi Forestry Commission (MFC) and its employees for their ongoing agency reorganization and efficiency improvements.

"Forestry has an annual economic impact of more than $13 billion in our state, and I'm pleased the Forestry Commission has improved its operations to better serve this important industry," Governor Barbour said. "The chief job of the Mississippi Forestry Commission is protecting Mississippi's valuable forest lands against fire, and during a very dry season the agency and its dedicated employees have done an exceptional job."

Under the leadership of the nine-member Forestry Commission and State Forester Charlie Morgan, the MFC began to reorganize during Fiscal Year 2006. As a result, the commission has taken a business management approach to agency operations, including utilizing a cost-accounting system, enacting new organizational and operational changes, utilizing technology to streamline operations and establishing a Leadership Team to meet monthly on budget reviews, agency operations and other business considerations. Additionally, the MFC has a new centralized "State Dispatch" which allows radio communication to span across all government communications networks.

During the 2007 Legislative Session, the importance of the forestry industry was recognized and two positive bills were passed and signed into law by Governor Barbour. House Bill 1077 strengthens the practice of Registered Foresters in Mississippi, and House Bill 1628 increases the lifetime reforestation tax credit, which encourages proper reforestation through practices prescribed by Registered Foresters.

"The MFC is dedicated to providing quality service to the landowners and citizens of Mississippi in a cost effective manner," said State Forester Charlie Morgan. "Hurricane Katrina created incredible wildfire protection and forest recovery challenges. Our agency has worked extremely hard in overcoming these challenges. I'm proud of the MFC employees and their dedication to caring for the state's valuable timber resource."

After Hurricane Katrina, millions of blown-down trees resulted in a record amount of fire fuel across South Mississippi; as a result, wildfire activity increased five times in this region. Under a new, more efficient structure, the MFC was able to successfully respond and extinguish the record number of fires, thus protecting thousands of acres of precious forest lands.

The MFC has also effectively utilized $11.8 million in federal funds for Hurricane Katrina through facilitating reinventory of public forest lands damaged by Katrina, having an increased capacity to provide wildfire protection through firefighting equipment, and providing $1.32 million of funding to 34 cities and communities for urban forest recovery.

The MFC provides wildfire protection on nearly 19 million acres of Mississippi's forest land, which is nearly two-thirds of the state's total land area. For more information on this agency, please visit www.mfc.state.ms.