By: Allen Chrisman - Montana Forest Owners Association President 

A portrait of a smiling man with a beard wearing a shirt and a vest

A brief introduction of the 2022 Officers of Montana Forest Owners Association: At our January meeting, the Board of Directors re-elected Allen Chrisman as President, Dave Atkins as Vice President, and Cameron Wohlschlegel as Secretary. Christina Oppegard was elected to the Treasurer position. We thank Robin Kolb for her service in 2021 as our Treasurer, and we appreciate Christina for being willing to take on this responsibility.

MFOA was actively engaged this past year in a significant issue regarding the valuation of your forest land for tax purposes. MFOA, along with other organizations, successfully supported legislation that provided for a revenue neutral tax rate to temporarily neutralize a new appraisal system that the Department of Revenue adopted that resulted in valuations far beyond what forest owners could expect in revenues. In addition, companion legislation directed the Department of Revenue to reconvene the Forest Land Taxation Advisory Committee to develop a new appraisal that will hopefully resolve these issues.

Recently MFOA submitted a Grant proposal to the Montana Forest Collaboration Network for funding to support a survey of private forest owners in Montana. The intent of the Survey is to identify their knowledge of the danger from wildfires, their understand of fuels treatments to reduce the intensity and severity of wildfires, whether they are interested fuels treatments, and if so, what barriers they are encountering that prevents them from implementing fuels treatments. The Survey is intended to help implement the Montana Forest Action Plan by identifying those barriers and sharing that information with the responsible Agencies. Montana State University Extension Forestry is a partner in this proposal, and both Montana Tree Farm and FireSafe Montana are supporters.

While it was a busy year for MFOA, there were several areas where we failed to meet our commitment to our Membership. I didn’t produce any NIPFTY Notes this year; our website doesn’t have a webmaster and I struggle with maintaining it; and we haven’t gotten our Membership Dues Renewal letters out to our members. Despite these setbacks, the Board of Directors is energetic and engaged, and very concerned about looking out for the interests of private forest owners across the State. So, thank you for your patience and understanding. 

If you want to make a difference and speak up for your rights as a forest landowner in Montana, please consider joining us – only $25 per year. Thanks for your support.

Enroll online here:

Montana Forest Owners Association Website

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