Every day, the people of the Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF) work with partners and stakeholders – like you – to address challenging issues such as aging forests, deforestation, invasive insects and plants, development sprawl, industrial-scale solar facilities, and the related impacts to forest and agriculture lands. Although we have our fair share of challenges facing the forest, we have also been extremely fortunate to have unprecedented support in recent years at the federal, state and local level.

In Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), DOF received $6,600,000 from the Inflation Reduction Act via the USDA Forest Service. This historic allocation of funding, to be distributed over a four-year period, will enable us to implement tree-focused programs in communities across the Commonwealth that have historically been overburdened by pollution, environmental and socioeconomic factors. We also continue to collaborate with partners statewide to get more trees into the ground in riparian forest buffers to meet the state’s 2025 commitments for Chesapeake Bay restoration.

Last December, DOF announced recipients for the 2022 Forest Sustainability Fund. One million dollars has been distributed proportionately to 68 Virginia localities to partially offset the reduced real estate tax revenue that results from forest land-use taxation. Localities will be able to use these funds for public education, outdoor recreation or forest conservation. Passed by the 2022 General Assembly, the fund assists localities that offer land-use taxation to forest landowners. Land-use taxation enables landowners to pay real estate taxes based on the productivity of their land for crop or timber production rather than on real estate market value. This results in lower taxes each year and enables many landowners to keep their land as farms or forests. Most of the forestland in Virginia is privately owned, but these millions of acres of forests provide environmental and health benefits for the public at large, such as cleaner air, healthier streams, drinking water and aesthetic beauty.

In FY23, the fall and spring fire seasons were more active in other parts of the U.S. than in Virginia. As part of a well-established national compact agreement, DOF was in a position to send 72 personnel to 14 other states to fill critical wildfire suppression and incident management positions. DOF firefighters were deployed to Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. These opportunities help our responders gain invaluable experience managing large wildfire incidents and allows Virginia to pull in out-of-state resources in the event of a serious wildfire situation here.

Pursuant to House Bill 206 (Small renewable energy projects; impact on natural resources, report), DOF participated in a regulatory advisory panel (RAP) led by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to assist in revising the Solar Permit by Rule regulation related to impacts on prime agricultural soils and forest lands. DOF’s role is to provide insight and expertise on forestry and potential mitigation strategies. DEQ successfully held five RAP meetings from June through September of last year. In summary, the RAP was successful in identifying key issues and a range of options for consideration. The final regulations are due by December 2024. Also, directed by House Bill 2026 (Renewable energy; biomass-fired facilities), DOF convened a work group this summer to study the carbon footprint of biomass electricity generation. DOF and stakeholders have taken on three tasks: perform a carbon life-cycle analysis, develop biomass best management practices (or BMPs), and convene an advisory panel. To begin, DOF focused efforts on the first phase of this work, performing a carbon life-cycle analysis, which will be incorporated into the BMPs. Several meetings were held this summer with other state agencies, industry, non-governmental organizations and members of the public, to set the stage for this important work, discuss challenges and hear from topic experts. DOF will next convene an advisory panel of agency and industry representatives and interested stakeholders to create and submit a report of the panel’s findings and recommendations by Dec. 1, 2024.

In FY23, DOF was proud to announce the Commonwealth’s 200th conservation easement. Using funding earmarked to mitigate environmental impacts of the construction of Route 460 in southwest Virginia, DOF collaborated with The Nature Conservancy to help conserve more than 1,400 acres of managed forests and four miles of headwater streams. Specializing in the creation and stewardship of easements that conserve relatively large, connected expanses of managed forestlands, DOF’s easement program maintains water quality and wildlife habitat, helps prevent flooding, and supports the Commonwealth’s forest products economy. DOF looks forward to growing its easement program to ensure that our working farms and forests remain intact and healthy for the benefit of generations to come.

The agency’s Forest Management Academy – a training program focused on strengthening the existing knowledge of seasoned field employees – resumed in FY23 after a 15-year hiatus. The 2022 academies – held in our Eastern and Western regions – included sessions on stand conversion, DOF research, forest and wildlife management, and tree improvement and pine productivity.

This summer, Governor Glenn Youngkin announced the establishment of the Virginia Security Corridor partnership and award of two federal Sentinel Landscape designations in eastern Virginia. The designations strengthen military readiness, conserve natural resources, and build working lands through integration of federal, state, local and non-governmental partnerships. The partnerships advance mutually beneficial land-use initiatives that complement Virginia’s military, forestry, agriculture and recreation economies by connecting landowners with voluntary conservation easement assistance programs. Program management will be led by DOF with our important governance partners: the Agriculture and Forestry, Veterans and Defense Affairs, and Natural and Historic Resources secretariats.

By now it’s likely clear to you that the scope of work generated by DOF didn’t diminish in FY23. However, this year will always be remembered as the year the agency lost our first firefighter in the line of duty after more than a century. In March, Rocky Wood was tragically killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident while battling a 15-acre wildfire along Lester’s Fork Road in Buchanan County. A seven-year DOF employee, Wood worked in the Western Region’s Vansant Office. He joined the agency full-time as a forest technician in 2016, and prior to that, worked as a part-time wildland firefighter with the agency and for the Virginia Department of Corrections. In May, the Wood family joined us for a small ceremony at the Charlottesville headquarters where a white oak tree was dedicated to the memory of Wood’s lifelong dedication to public service. We use a living tree as a symbol of our commitment to remember those that we have lost, and the enduring impact that they have had on the agency. This tragedy underscores the very real danger of our work as we fulfill our mission to protect life, land and property for all Virginians.

This State of the Forest report provides an annual look at the work and activities of DOF. On the pages that follow, you’ll find details on many areas of interest to you such as forest health, forest management, invasive species, land conservation and, of course, water quality. Thank you for your partnership, interest and continued support of forestry in the Commonwealth.

/s/ Rob Farrell, State Forester