Part I
Definitions

4VAC10-40-10. Definitions.

The following words and terms when used in this regulation shall have the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise:

"Acre" means one or more acres or part of an acre or any combination of them.

"Board" means the Reforestation Board of Forestry.

"Department" means the Department of Forestry.

"Forest Products Tax Act" means the tax paid by every person engaged in the Commonwealth in business as a manufacturer or shipper of forest products for sale, profit, or commercial use (§ 58.1-1600 of the Code of Virginia).

"Owner" means individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association or any other business unit, device or arrangement owning land to which the Reforestation Act is applicable.

"Project" means the reforestation activity, completed or an approved portion of it, on a specific number of acres, in a specific location under one ownership.

"Reforestation Act" means Reforestation of Timberlands Act, Article 10 (§ 10.1-1170 et seq.) of Chapter 11 of Title 10.1 of the Code of Virginia.

"Reforestation assistance" means funds, material, personnel or other assistance made available to a landowner pursuant to § 10.1-1173 of the Reforestation Act and these Reforestation of Timberlands Regulations.

"State Forester" means the chief executive officer of the Department of Forestry.

"Tract" means specific acreage upon which a reforestation project is conducted.

4VAC10-40-50. Nonqualifying type of land cover.

In addition to those acres to which the Reforestation Act does not apply pursuant to the provisions of § 10.1-1171 of the Reforestation Act, reforestation assistance shall not be available with respect to the following:

1. Any acre on which there are present 400 or more well distributed and free-to-grow loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), short leaf pine (Pinus echinata), pond pine (Pinus serotina), white pine (Pinus strobus), Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana), of or pitch pine (Pinus rigida), stems or tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipfera) stems, singly or together, four feet or more in height, measured from ground level to tip of stem.

2. Any acre on which loblolly pine (Pinus Taeda), short leaf pine (Pinus echinata), pond pine (Pinus serotina), or white pine (Pinus strobus), singly or together, occur and exceed in number 50 live, thrifty trees of the above species six inches or more in diameter of the point of average thickness measured from outside of bark to outside of bark at a point on the trunk 10 inches above the general ground level.

4VAC10-40-70. Qualifying practices.

The type of forest practices qualifying for reforestation assistance shall include any method approved by the board and State Forester designed to:

1. Prepare land for reforestation, including release, by means of chemical, mechanical or hand methods, of seedlings from overtopping shade of trees, brush, or shrubs;.

2. Reforest land, either naturally or artificially, by sowing of seed and/or planting of seedlings.

3. Conduct post-reforestation cultural treatments.

Part IV
Seed Trees

4VAC10-40-80. Seed trees.

After expiration of the number of years that the eight pine and/or two tulip poplar seed trees are required, pursuant to the Seed Tree Trees Act (§ 10.1-1162 et seq. of the Code of Virginia), to be left standing following the date of cutting of the timber, and after release of the tract to the owner, reforestation assistance may be made available with respect to any acre on which seed trees were left standing and uncut as required by the Seed Tree Trees Act, provided such reforestation assistance is not prohibited by the provisions of 4VAC10-40-50.

Part XI
Incentive Payments

4VAC10-40-170. Incentive payments.

A. The department may from time to time and upon consultation with the board adjust the levels and manner of incentive payments to be offered to landowners for reforestation projects in accordance with the Reforestation Act. Those changes will be for one fiscal year and may not change within a fiscal year. Any such adjustments shall be announced and publicized as far in advance of their affective dates as practical.

B. Effective July 1, 1982, the incentive payments to landowners for approved projects are hereby set at 60% of actual cost or $80 per acre, whichever is the lesser. The incentive payments to landowners from approved projects are hereby set at 75% of the total cost of the project or an annually determined maximum amount per acre agreed upon by the Board of Forestry and the State Forester, whichever is less.