Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 18 January 25, 1996 - Shaffer wins APA award for improving forestry practices

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Shaffer wins APA award for improving forestry practices

By Lynn Davis

Spectrum Volume 18 Issue 18 - January 25, 1996

Robert Shaffer, associate professor of industrial forestry operations and Extension specialist in timber harvesting, has won the American Pulpwood Association's (APA) 1995 Appalachian Technical Division Forestry Activist Award.

The honor recognizes his accomplishments in promoting forest management, wise use, and timber harvesting to the general public. "Bob Shaffer has stood out in promoting voluntary best-management practices (BMP) and in arguing against unnecessary government regulation of forestry," said APA Appalachian Technical Division Chairman Gary Cargile in making the award.

"Bob has researched and widely reported the results from studies comparing Virginia's highly successful and cost-effective voluntary BMP program with Maryland's regulatory program," Cargile added.

The incoming president of the Virginia Forestry Association (VFA), Shaffer has chaired the VFA Logger Committee and developed a state-wide logger recognition and professionalism award program. His work has resulted in the formation of many local logger committees, which have been consolidated into a statewide loggers council.

Shaffer's Virginia Tech Extension work includes a quarterly newsletter aimed at keeping loggers abreast of changing OSHA regulations, BMP guidelines, and proposed state legislation affecting logging activity.

Shaffer also serves on Virginia's Sustainable Forestry Initiative Task Force and co-chairs with a logger its logger-education and training committee. He frequently speaks and writes to defend sound silviculture practices and to explain the relationship between lumber prices and logging restrictions.

The APA focuses on the safe and efficient harvest and transportation of forest products from the woods to the mill.