Ritter signs forest bills

Posted by egable on May 28th, 2008 filed in Forests

Gov. Bill Ritter (D) signed a package of bills today aimed at giving the state new tools to defend Colorado’s forests from threats such as mountain pine beetles and wildfires:

* HB 1110, which creates a five-year program that allows landowners to deduct the actual costs of their wildfire mitigation, up to $2,500, from their state income tax.

* HB 1269, which provides a sales-tax exemption for sales, storage and use of wood products, such as lumber, furniture, or wood chips, that use wood from beetle-kill trees. The exemption would run through July 1, 2014. The bill also provides cities and counties the option of enacting similar sales-tax exemptions.

* HB 1318, which creates a voluntary “Beetle Mitigation Fund” to be administered by the Colorado State Forest Service to mitigate and remove beetle-infested trees from state-owned land. The public will be able to donate to the fund online.

* SB 71, which extends a one-year, forest-restoration pilot program from 2007 through 2012. It provides $1 million a year to help communities implement forest treatment projects to reduce wildfire fuels and protect Colorado’s watersheds. In 2007, the pilot funded 12 different forest restoration projects around the state.

* SB 221, which authorizes the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority to issue up to $50 million in bonds to fund watershed protection and forest health projects.

* HB 1241, which changes the name of the current “Colorado Watershed Protection Fund” state tax checkoff to the “Healthy Rivers Fund” and extends the checkoff through 2010.