|
BRANCH HONORED FOR ACTIVISM
RELEASE: June 6, 2006
CONTACT: Neil Ward (301/838-9385)
nward@forestresources.org
 Rockville, MD – The Forest Resources Association awarded its 2006 National
Outstanding Forestry Activist Award to Mike Branch, of Smurfit-Stone
Container Corporation, in Fernandina Beach, Florida, for his strong
campaigning, nationally and locally, on behalf of forestry and logging.
FRA Chairman Jim Brody congratulated Mike at FRA’s 2006 Awards Dinner,
June 3, in Orlando, Florida, presenting him with a plaque and cash award,
commenting, “on behalf of all of us who depend on the sustainable harvest
of trees, please accept our congratulations as FRA’s sixteenth annual
National Outstanding Forestry Activist.”
Mike thanked Jim but noted, “while I thank you for this award, I thought
this was part of my job—but it is really part of all of our jobs. We all
should take every opportunity to support sustainable forestry. I thank my
God for giving us dominion over this earth. We should manage the earth,
but manage it correctly.”
Mike thanked his wife, Julie, and his employer, Smurfit-Stone, for
supporting his work in forestry activism, and spoke some words
commemorating his father, for instilling in him his love for forestry and
conservation.
Mike Branch is definitely pro-forestry (“4S TRE”), as his car license
plate affirms. Over the years, Mike has been promoting the virtues of
modern forestry as a recent President of the Florida Forestry Association
(FFA) and Chair of FFA’s Communications Committee, where he was
instrumental in organizing the Florida Forestry Teachers Tour for the past
four years. He also serves as a member of the St. Johns River Water
Management District’s Governing Board and chair of their Regulatory
Committee, where he promoted forestry as the “very best land use.”
As a member of the Sustainable Forestry Board’s (SFB) Resource Committee,
Mike Branch helped with the review and implementation of the 2005-2009
Sustainable Forestry Initiative® Standard. He also serves on the Florida
Forestry Council, where he helped strengthen Florida’s Best Management
Practices for Forestry.
In addition, Mike is an active member of the Forest Resources
Association’s Pro-Active Forestry Communication and Education Committee,
where he participates in the annual “Make A Cut On Us” legislative contact
event for congressional aides at a Washington, DC-area Christmas Tree
farm.
Donations from 15 FRA members support FRA’s Forestry Activist Award:
Blomberg Logging & Trucking, Bowater, E.D. Bessey & Son, Fiber Industry
Consultants, Forest Investment Associates, Godfrey Lumber, Green Bay
Packaging, MeadWestvaco, RISI, Ponderay Newsprint, Potlatch Corporation,
The Price Companies, Smurfit-Stone Container, Temple-Inland Forest
Products, and Weyerhaeuser.
Candidates for FRA’s National Outstanding Forestry Activist Award, which
recognizes exemplary activism in support of America’s forest products
industry, are nominated following regional competitions.
The Forest Resources Association Inc. is a nonprofit trade association
concerned with the safe, efficient, and sustainable harvest of forest
products and their transport from woods to mill. FRA represents wood
consumers, independent logging contractors, and wood dealers, as well as
businesses providing products and services to the forest resource-based
industries.
######
Print Quality Image for Media Use
(right click your mouse and choose
“Save Picture as” from the short-cut menu)
FRA
Chairman Jim Brody (at right) congratulates FRA’s 2006 National
Outstanding Forestry Activist - (1.23 MB)
Photo caption: “FRA Chairman Jim Brody (at right) congratulates FRA’s 2006
National Outstanding Forestry Activist Mike Branch with his wife, Julie.”
Return to News
Releases
Forest Resources Association
Inc. (FRA)
600 Jefferson Plaza, Suite 350,
Rockville, MD 20852
FRA National office telephone: 301/838-9385
Click here for FRA Staff and FRA Division
contact information
FRA Site Map
|
