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624 <br /> 71 <br /> Ms. Anne Barnes, Chair Page five <br /> Orange County Commissioners September 18, 1981 <br /> thoroughly trained in tree disease problems and forest insect pests. <br /> MISCELLANEOUS <br /> The Forest Service is charged with enforcing the State Stream Ob- <br /> struction Law. This is in addition to forest fire laws and some <br /> cutting on roadway laws that we are also charged with. We have <br /> had several of these cases in the past few years. <br /> Another program that is increasing is the huge demand for firewood. <br /> Last year the Forest Service was involved in cutting firewood for <br /> needy people. This was coordinated through the Orange County Energy <br /> Office, J.O.C.C.A., N. C. Department of Corrections, and the N. C. <br /> Forest Service. The Forst Service located the tracts to be cut, <br /> supplied all equipment (chainsaws, loaders, trucks, etc.), and <br /> supplied one man each day, County and-Assistant County Ranger, to <br /> operate the chainsaw and supervise the prisoners from the Department <br /> of Corrections. We delivered this cut and split firewood to J.O.C.C.A. <br /> locations in Chapel Hill and Cedar Grove. Firewood considerations <br /> are now being included in our Forest Management Plans. <br /> Last year an estimated $30,000 was brought in the County through <br /> state and federal cost-sharing forestry programs. Local labor <br /> was used for projects such as tree planting and site-preparation <br /> work. <br /> Pulpwood cutters depend on the Forest Service to locate and mark <br /> wood while sawtimber sales are usually referred by us to Consulting <br /> Foresters which is mutually of benefit to landowners and timber <br /> companies alike. The pulpwood yard location in Hillsborough and the <br /> yard in Pittsboro that cuts wood from Orange County generate thousands <br /> of dollars of business per year in the county. This is an important <br /> market for our forest landowners, and it is our job to get them <br /> together. <br /> We work in cooperation with the county ASCS Office which handles <br /> the major share of cost-sharing money received in the county; the <br /> Extension Service in relation to shade tree problems, the Soil <br /> Conservation Service to help implement a total farm plan, and the <br /> Orange Soil and Water Conservation District in such projects as <br /> Earth Walk, Environmental. Awareness Week and the tree seedling <br /> program. We also work in close contact with Duke University and the <br /> University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. <br /> The County Forest Ranger position is a full•-time job that requiree <br /> an individual willing to attend meetings, hold forestry programs, <br /> and fight fires after normal working hours. Also to be taken into <br /> account is the amount of paperwork that requires many man hours <br />