PART B

Sec. B-1. Report to Legislature. No later than January 2, 2004, the Commissioner of Conservation shall report to the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry with recommendations and an implementation plan for solutions to the issue of liquidation harvesting. The commissioner shall review, at a minimum, the following:

1. Improvements to standards and guidelines for timber harvests;

2. Increased professional involvement in timber harvests;

3. Improved professional accountability of foresters;

4. Modifications to land use laws;

5. Disincentives to liquidation harvesting;

6. Incentives for landowners who receive independent, 3rd- party certification that their forest lands are well managed;

7. Economic policies to expand markets for forest products harvested from well-managed forests and to promote Maine as a world leader in green-certified forest lands and forest products; and

8. Other relevant approaches.

In conducting the review, the commissioner shall solicit input from representatives of the forestry industry, including professional loggers, state agencies, municipalities, industrial and nonindustrial landowners, environmental groups, financial institutions, Legislators and members of the public.

The final report must include proposed changes to existing laws, rules and policies necessary to implement the recommendations.

Sec. B-2. Legislation authorized. The Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry may report out a bill to the Second Regular Session of the 121st Legislature to implement any or all of the provisions of the plan recommended