

Timber & Taxes, the podcast
Tax attorney and estate specialist Paul Spillers is featured in Minding the Forest, a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association released this week. Spillers, who also is past president of the LFA, gives presentations at LSU AgCenter Forestry Forums each year. This year, he is the guest in a two-part series in Minding the Forest. Click to listen to the Timber & Taxes episode of Minding the Forest.


Perseverance paying off for La. pearlshell
The Margaritifera hembeli is not a new adult frozen beverage consumed to waste away summer happy hours, as the name might imply; it is an animal once commonly found in small waterways that is struggling with a one in 100 million shot at survival each time a female Louisiana pearlshell mussel releases its young into a stream. More than 30 years ago, scientists recognized the tenuous hold on life for the rare freshwater mussel. Since that time, biologists with the U.S. Forest S


Merry Christmas from the LFA!
We hope you and your family are blessed with a Merry Christmas and look forward to a better 2021! Also, we'd like remind our members and the public that our offices will be closed on Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24, and Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25. For the New Year Holiday, we also will be closed on Thursday, Dec. 31 and Friday, Jan. 1.


Economic developers undergird top crop
Wrap your brain around 122 trillion BTUs. Without context, you’re likely lost. But a walk in the woods frames the number nicely. In Louisiana’s forestry sector, that’s the annual energy extracted from biomass for electricity generation. Louisiana now ranks No. 7 for renewable energy derived from wood and waste, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis of states. It’s a higher-value application of lower-grade forest products, one that forms energy pellets


Fire for birds, bees and other wildlife
What does the small, non-industrial, timberland owner do for timberland management? I addressed some of these issues in a previous article, but now we are going to get a little more specific. Timberland or forestry management assesses the needs and goals of the landowner and works to implement the various aspects laid out in the timberland management plan. Timber management is much more than just looking after the trees. Good management considers the balance of the whole ecos


Team Safe Trucking has online training for CEs
Team Safe Trucking (TST) is offering a 45-minute webinar for loggers or foresters who might still need to get CE credits toward their 2021 Master Logger or COFC card, focusing on how TST can help provide logging businesses with training. The webinar is set for 1 p.m. Jan. 20, 2021. Team Safe Trucking Overview - Free Educational Webinar will cover the following issues: • Making Training Accessible 24-7 • Providing Regulation Training • Documenting training. The training event