Green Ribbon Task Force on Forest Products, Conservation
and Jobs
March 3rd, 2016 Meeting Minutes
Selinsgrove Center, Selinsgrove
9:00 AM-1:00 PM
I. Welcome
Secretary Cindy Dunn, Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) began the meeting by
welcoming attendees and thanking them for making time once again for this important effort.
Participants then briefly introduced themselves. [For a list of attendees, see page 6.]
Sec. Dunn reminded everyone that the first meeting was to establish the state of the forest and
industry; the second, to focus on workforce development and job recruitment issues; and today’s, to
explore topics in economic development and production. The next meeting will be themed around
forest conservation, and the last two will be solely dedicated to discussion, integration of issues and
solutions, and production of a final set of recommendations.
To address some questions that have been circulating regarding the difference between the Green
Ribbon Task Force and the Hardwoods Development Council (HDC), Sec. Dunn remarked that this effort
will hopefully inform the HDC and other long-term groups, which already provide invaluable services
including, but not limited to, overseas and at-home advocacy and marketing, funding for worker training
programs, and youth education on the importance of the forest products industry. The Green Ribbon
Task Force is a temporary body that will issue recommendations to support existing, working efforts,
such as these, as well as explore ideas for other solutions to the wide range of problems that we
continue to identify in these meetings.
II. Presentations and Discussion
[Will be posted on the task force webpage: www.dcnr.pa.gov/councils/greenribbontaskforce]
“Developing Forest Products in the PA Wilds Conservation Landscape” – Ta Enos, Executive Director of
the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship
 Challenge to the group: expand definition of “forest products”
 After getting participants, the next step was brand development
 Need regional marketing dollars, which used to be provided by the state
 The Cooperative has had a positive impact (numbers in the PowerPoint were noted to be dated)
o Next step is figuring out how to systematically track statistics
 There is strength in diversity
o Biodiversity is recognized as a sign of environmental health
o Same idea applies to forest products – large-scale producers working with local artisans
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Discussion:
 PA Wilds was noted to be a quick and nimble but “thin” group?
o Some producers will scale up, but most will remain at the smaller artisan level
o Groups like this are not necessarily huge job creators, but they increase the personal
success and wealth of the artisan
 Some young people are coming back to the rural areas and bringing their creative energy and
business ideas
o Then able to ship their products anywhere in the country
 Way for bigger companies to help smaller ones?
o Exs. – Kane Hardwoods selling local spirits
o Sourcing local goods for gift shops, use in larger products, etc.
 Looking to expand the Cooperative’s presence (including Wellsboro’s Laurel Festival)
Turkey Calls from Pennsylvania Hardwoods – Scott Basehore
 Mr. Basehore gave some background on how different calls worked and passed them around for
the group to try
 Began making turkey calls as a hobby and now sells them throughout the country
 Hunters have a conservation mindset and a positive impact on the economy
III. Workgroup Reports and Discussion
Conservation, Dan Devlin: The second workgroup meeting was focused on identifying issues. The
group came up with 22, but there is no resolution yet on organization or priority. (These were
condensed into 14 main issue areas for today’s small group activity.) At the next workgroup
meeting, we will flesh out these issues to provide more context for discussion at the next task force
meeting.
Economic Development and Products, Sara Nicholas (for Carrie Lepore): The latest workgroup
meeting featured Glenn Vernon discussing his report, “Becoming Makers and Manufacturers Again,”
which includes topics such as the history of manufacturing, the off-shoring trend, and the
importance of creating quality durable goods. For today’s small group activity, the Products issues
are grouped under three main headings.
Workforce Development and Jobs, Fred Strathmeyer: At the last workgroup meeting, we tried to
narrow the focus of the discussion. We will continue to develop a pattern for how to
compartmentalize the issues in a sensible way; for now, training and education, marketing and
messaging, and barriers to employment seem to be common areas. The workgroup decided that it
would be helpful to discuss some of these issues with an actual group of loggers, and Ken Kane has
arranged for a meeting to occur after the April 5th task force meeting is over. The next workgroup
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meeting will also feature a report by Bob Gessner on his thoughts after years of experience on the
industry’s workforce and training needs.
IV. Breakout Session and Discussion – The breakout groups were organized to allow every participant to
have access to the discussions that the workgroups have had up to this point; the groups were randomly
assigned to increase collaboration and encourage new dialogue. Notes from this activity will be provided
to the workgroups.
Once everyone reconvened, Sec. Dunn asked each participant for their main takeaway from the activity
(broken down into general categories):
Education
 Landowner education on how to make good decisions about the use of land
 Colleges and high schools should partner with mills for programs to reach kids before graduation
 Challenge to message this to kids
 Education is paramount – we need to convey the importance of the industry to children and the
public in general
 Lack of high school programs
Workforce/industry
 Look to Canada as an example of government support for job training, research and
development, and other actions to support the wood products industry
 Need to embrace technology to build back the workforce
 Aging workforce
 Expense of equipment
 Transportation/logistical barriers
 Tax issues
 Workforce issues mirrored in Agriculture
 Importance/uniqueness of this industry – seedling to 100 years old to product
 Industry success is so intertwined with everything else (state policies, etc.)
Forests
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Forest health/regeneration
Importance of forests, even though society doesn’t realize how connected they are to them
Lantern fly – how will it affect conservation and the industry?
Taxes/parcelization
Emphasize policies that drive investment in land for clean water
Note forests and their positive effect on human health
Products
 Use products as a bridge to the wider world
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In being a good steward of taxpayer dollars, change state mindset of “cheap” to investment in
quality (furniture, construction materials, other wood products)
o Also investing in PA products
Bring “local” movement to forests (CSAs, locally-made, etc.); make the local/community
connection
Foster connections between people and the things that they use
Interrelatedness of workgroups
 There is a lot of overlap between the workgroups
o Challenging – need to figure out how best to channel/work with this overlap
o Also encouraged by it
 Messaging, education, and public perception are common themes
Strategy
 Social psychology will be important in changing people’s thought patterns
 Think about how to say things to capture people’s attention (poetic phrasing example)
o Messaging – find the right vehicle to tell the story
 “PA Hardwoods stand for quality,” all around – in life, stewardship of forests, and in the use of
products themselves
 Need to start honing in on what we want to tackle
General notes
 Excitement in the room – everyone is invested
 Sequence and prioritize policy changes
o Some changes need to happen soon; others can wait (“triage” vs long-term)
 Complexity of issues
 Great and diverse team but will make it difficult to synthesize/boil down the issues and
recommendations into a cohesive bunch
o Actions and outputs of this team should be bold and unapologetic
 Complimented thoughtful industry participants
 This variety of voices will be powerful and helpful in selling our final product (and making sure
that it is implemented)
 Sustainability is missing – need lasting policies, jobs, workforce improvements
 Nice to hear different perspectives
 If we’re successful, we’ll be challenged to up our game
V. Next Steps
Sec. Dunn ended the meeting at 12:00 PM. She charged the chairs to hold another round of meetings
with their workgroups before the beginning of April and to continue exploring issues, with an eye
towards honing in on the top priorities for the group to tackle.
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Following lunch, many attended a tour of Wood-Mode and Bingaman Lumber, both located in nearby
Kreamer, PA. The next meeting will be held at the fire hall in Boalsburg on April 5th and will be followed
by a tour of Musser Gap in Rothrock State Forest.
For agendas, meeting minutes, presentations, a schedule of task force meetings, related background
publications, and other relevant information, please visit to the task force webpage:
www.dcnr.pa.gov/councils/greenribbontaskforce.
RSVPs for future task force meetings, dietary restrictions, and logistical questions should be directed to
Annie Macky, at [email protected].
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Task Force Attendees:
Cindy Adams Dunn, Secretary, DCNR
Amanda Coleman, Natural Resource Conservation Service
Bill Kunze, The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
Burt Craig, Kane Hardwoods
Cal DuBrock, Goddard Chair, Penn State
Caren Glotfelty, Allegheny County Parks Foundation
Dan Devlin, DCNR
David Gustafson, PA Game Commission
Eric Bridges, North Central Regional Planning and Development Commission
Eric Easton, Penn. College of Technology
Fred Strathmeyer, PDA
Gay Thistle, Private forest owner and PA Forestry Association representative
Glenn Vernon, Architect
Dr. Jim Finley, Center for Private Forests, Penn State
Keith Atherholt, Lewis Lumber Products, Inc.
Ken Kane, Consulting forester
Kim Barnes, Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission
Luke Dillinger, Domtar
Michael McEntire, Forest Investment Associates
Nathan Meiser, AgChoice
Paul Lyskava, PA Forest Products Association
Ray Wheeland, Wheeland Lumber Co.
Renee Carey, Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy
Robert Gessner, Wood-Mode, Inc.
Sarah Miller, DCED
Sherry Tune, Allegheny National Forest
Susan Stout, U.S. Forest Service
Tony Guerrieri, Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee (JLCC)
Wayne Bender, Hardwoods Development Council
Staff/Resource Experts Present:
Annie Macky, DCNR
Ben Livelsberger, DCNR
Cindy Thomas, DCNR
Craig Houghton, Penn State Mont Alto
Jason Albright, DCNR
Jennie Shade, DCNR
Joel Miller, Department of Labor & Industry
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John Norbeck, DCNR
Lela Reichart, PDA
Meredith Hill, DCNR
Michael Nerozzi, JLCC
Mike Glazer, representing Congressman Thompson
Rachel Reyna, DCNR
Robb Miller, DCNR
Ron Ramsey, TNC
Sara Nicholas, DCNR
Scott Basehore, Carpenter and Turkey Call Maker
Seth Cassell, DCNR
Ta Enos, PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship
Tammie Peffer, DCNR