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USDA Seeks National Softwood Lumber Board Nominees

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) Agricultural Marketing Service (“AMS”) is seeking nominations for the Softwood Lumber Board to fill seats for four members whose terms expire Dec. 31, 2022. Nomination applications for the seats are due April 20, 2022. Appointed members will serve three-year terms.

The Softwood Lumber Board is seeking nominees for one small size domestic manufacturer representing the U.S. South Region, one domestic manufacturer of any size representing the Northeast & Lake States, one small domestic manufacturer representing the U.S. West Region, and one large softwood lumber importer representing the Canada West Region.

The U.S. South Region consists of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The Northeast & Lake States Region consists of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and all other parts of the United States that are not part of the U.S. South or U.S. West.

The U.S. West Region consists of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

The Canada West Region consists of the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.

Applications are available on the Softwood Lumber Board website, or by contacting Maureen Pello, vice president operations, Softwood Lumber Board (503) 632-9933 or mpello@softwoodlumberboard.org; Kelly Robertson, marketing specialist, USDA at (202) 657-3474 or kellym.robertson@usda.gov.

The current 14-member board includes 10 domestic manufacturers and four importers. More information about the board is available on the Softwood Lumber Board web page on the AMS website.

Since 1966, Congress has authorized the development of industry-funded research and promotion boards to provide a framework for agricultural industries to pool their resources and combine efforts to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets and conduct important research and promotion activities. AMS provides oversight of 22 boards, paid for by industry assessments, which helps ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.

AMS policy is that diversity of the boards, councils and committees it oversees should reflect the diversity of their industries in terms of the experience of members, methods of production and distribution, marketing strategies, and other distinguishing factors, including but not limited to individuals from historically underserved communities, that will bring different perspectives and ideas to the table. Throughout the full nomination process, the industry must conduct extensive outreach, paying particular attention to reaching underserved communities, and consider the diversity of the population served and the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the members to serve a diverse population.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture