§195F-4 Forest stewardship fund. (a) There is established a special fund within the state treasury known as the forest stewardship fund which shall be used as follows:

(1) Payments shall be made by the board pursuant to agreements entered into with qualified landowners to further the purposes of this chapter; and

(2) Moneys collected from:

(A) The harvest of non-native forest products from forest reserves;

(B) The harvest of native forest products from degraded forests as defined in section 186-5.5, within forest reserves;

(C) The sale of forest products found dead and lying on the ground;

(D) The sale of tree seedlings from state nurseries;

(E) The sale of any other products or services, or anything of value derived from forest reserves not described above; or

(F) The imposition of fines or penalties for violations of this chapter and chapters 183 and 185 or any rule adopted thereunder;

shall be used for: (i) replanting, managing, and maintaining designated timber management areas; (ii) enhancing the management of public forest reserves with an emphasis on restoring degraded koa forests; and (iii) developing environmental education and training programs pertaining to sustainable forestry; provided that the activities described in clauses (ii) and (iii) may not be funded unless the activities described in approved management plans pertaining to clause (i) are adequately funded.

(b) The fund shall consist of moneys received from any public or private sources. The fund shall be held separate and apart from all other moneys, funds, and accounts in the state treasury; provided that any moneys received from the federal government or from private contributions shall be deposited and accounted for in accordance with conditions established by the agencies or persons from whom the moneys are received.

Investment earnings credited to the fund shall become a part of the assets of the fund. Any balance remaining in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall be carried forward in the fund for the next fiscal year. [L 1991, c 327, pt of §2; am L 1999, c 144, §4; am L 2001, c 152, §1; am L 2006, c 174, §5; am L 2007, c 9, §9; am L 2015, c 84, §2]