01/28/2009 17:30 FAX 434 9777749 State Forester's Office @I 001 
. . 
Carl E. ani is on. 111 
State Forester 
COMMONWEALTEI of VIRGINIA 
DEPARTMENT OR FORESTRY 
900 Natural Resources Drive, Suite 800 
Charlottesville, VA 22903 
.Z www.dof.vitginia. gov 
(434) 977-6555, 
Fax: (434) 296-2369 
January 26,2009 
Ms. Lillian Woods, Acting Director 
Conservation Technical Assistance Programs Division 
U. S. Department of Agriculture ' , 
Natural Resource Conservation Sa-vice 
1400 Independence ~ienue, S W 
Room 6015 S 
Washington, D. C. 20250-2890 
D& Ms. Woods: 
Ref: Comment on proposed rules for State Technical Committees 
Docket. # NRCS- IFR-08010 
7 CFR Part 610 IUN 0578 - AA5l 
Federal Register Vol. 73 No. 228, Tuesday, Now. 25,2008 
The Virginia office of the NRCS recently sent a notice of the proposed rules regarding State 
Technical Committees. I would like to make the follouing comments on behalf of the Virginia 
Department of Forestry: 
1. Section 610.22 addresses the membership of the State Technical Committee and adds 
owners of non-industrialprivate forest Za~d to the Committee. We fully support this 
addition and believe that it will add strength to the: Committee. Nearly 80 percent of 
forestland in Virginia is held almost 400,000 owners. These owners are beneficiaries of 
NRCS programs and assistance, and should be represented on the Committee. 
2. We would recommend an addition to the members mentioned in this section. While adding 
one or more forest landowners is very positive, because of the large number of owners, we 
feel it would be appropriate to include a group or ,organization that represents forest owners 
on a larger level. We suggest including '"he state foreshy association " as a member to the 
Committee. In Virginia, the Virginia Forestry Association is made up of many landowners 
and other forestry interests, and would add significantly to the representation of forestry 
issues. I , 
Mission: We Protect and Develop Healthy, Sustainable Forest Resources for Virginians. 

01/25/2000 17:30 FAX 434 9777749 State Forester's Offlce 
Ms. Lillian mods 
Page 2 
January 26,2009 
Thank you fohyour consideration of these comments and suggestions. Please feel free to contact 
me if you have any questions. 
Sincerely, 
Carl. E. .~a&son; LII 
State Pore~~ter 
c: Mr. Jack Bricker ' 
State Conservationist 
Mr. Ken Carter 
Assistant. State Conservationist, Programs