Loggers say they want to bring state Division of Forestry inspectors back to work as soon as possible, preferably through the special session being called by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to address state flood relief funding. The governor’s office says won’t happen because the session will focus only on flood-related expense matters. “Why would he not do that?” asked Frank Stewart, executive director of the West Virginia Forestry Association.
Thirty-seven Division of Forestry workers — about one-third of the agency’s workforce — were laid off in July. The cuts were in response to the agency’s $1.7 million projected revenue deficit.
By this month, state leaders were saying the division could no longer do the routine regulation at the core of its mission. Regulation was being spun off to agencies like the Department of Environmental Protection, which also said it didn’t have enough resources. Meanwhile, the state budget picture doesn’t appear to have improved much. Revenue collections in August remained disappointing, although state leaders were hoping for a better October.
“My position is, this money needs to be put back in for forestry,” said state Sen. Robert Karnes, whose district includes some of West Virginia’s most actively-logged areas in Webster, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Upshur, Randolph and Pendleton counties.
How forestry got to this point is a tangled tale of budgeting. For almost 20 years, a timber severance tax funded the agency. Then state leaders started diverting a portion of that money to pay down workers compensation debts, funding forestry with general revenue.
From MetroNews: https://wvmetronews.com/2016/09/15/loggers-hope-for-reprieve-in-special-session/