As the 110th Congress reconvenes this year, perhaps one of the most pressing issues they will need to confront is crafting the 2007 Farm Bill. Although it is titled a "Farm Bill," you should be aware that there are provisions impacting both forestry and agriculture throughout the bill. Last year, there were numerous listening sessions throughout the country giving people the opportunity to comment and share their thoughts on what should be included in the "new and improved" version slated for mark-uplater this year. The American Loggers Council submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was quite pleased when those comments appeared in Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johann's comments pertaining to forest wood to energy. The ALC requested that the farm bill "invest in woody biomass technologies, including the use of woody biomass for energy, transportation fuels and other value added products. This would help to recover much of the lost infrastructure in logging and timber communities thr ughout the United States, while at the same time promoting healthy forests, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, creating jobs, and most importantly providing for national security."
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