Forest Practices Board schedules special meeting on RMAP

Olympia, WA - June 9, 2002 - The Forest Practices Board will hold a special meeting at 9 a.m., Wednesday, June 19, at the Natural Resources Building in Olympia to discuss Road Maintenance and Abandonment Plan regulations.

The board has not released an agenda for the meeting, but will hear public testimony. Doug Sutherland, state commissioner of Public Lands, also plans to present the board with a preliminary list of possible administrative, regulatory and/or legislative actions to address some of the problems with RMAP[Road Maintenance and Abandonment Plan]  identified by the Washington Farm Bureau.

Hertha Lund, assistant director of Government Relations, will attend the Forest Practices Board meeting on behalf of the Washington Farm Bureau. A legislative hearing on RMAP, initially scheduled for June 27, has been cancelled. Farm Bureau will send out an RMAP Update if the hearing is rescheduled.

Farm Bureau to hold four RMAP meetings next week

Continuing its effort to educate property owners about the potential impact of RMAP regulations, the Washington Farm Bureau will hold four more regional RMAP meetings next week:
* Bremerton -- Monday, June 10, at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
* Mt. Vernon -- Tuesday, June 11, at the Cotton Tree Inn, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
* Ellensburg -- Wednesday, June 12, at the Hal Holmes Community Center, beginning at 7 p.m.
* Goldendale -- Thursday, June 13, at the Goldendale Grange, beginning at 7 p.m.

Please urge friends or relatives in these areas to attend the closest RMAP meeting and support the Farm Bureau effort to change these regulations, which could otherwise cost small forestland owners millions of dollars and potentially drive some farmers and ranchers off their land.

This week, Farm Bureau held RMAP meetings in Dayton (Columbia County) and Spokane. Hertha Lund, an assistant director of Government Relations for Washington Farm Bureau, also gave a presentation on RMAP to a group of about 70 property owners in Colville. For more information about RMAP, go to www.wsfb.com <http://www.wsfb.com> on the Internet.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. [Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml]