November 13, 2008

"We are really proud to have Governor Kaine and his cabinet staff, their staff, to visit our office today," said Ron Jenkins of the Department of Forestry.

Making their way to the department of forestry Thursday, Governor Kaine and his cabinet got a chance to meet with the agency as part of their "Cabinet Community Day," an agency Kaine says is vital to the economy of the commonwealth.

"Forestry and agriculture is the largest industry in Virginia. We just did a study at the Weldon Cooper Center at UVa that showed that it's nearly $80 billion a year combined industry, forestry is about $28 billion a year," said Kaine.

"We have an important resource, the forest natural resource that we're also very proud to work and be part of," said Jenkins.

But even the Department of Forestry has not been immune to the economy, seeing some layoffs because of state budget shortfalls.

"It is a tough time. You know state revenues with the national recession. I mean the state revenues are definitely slowing. They began to slow in April of 2007 but obviously in recent, in the last six months we've seen a real acceleration as the national economy has been so challenged," said Kaine.

Kaine says that he and his cabinet are doing everything they can to offset any negative effects of the economy being felt by the commonwealth.

"I'm working with my cabinet secretaries and agency heads to try and figure out a way to reduce expenses during this tough time but also position ourselves so we can position ourselves to be the best managed state in America," said Kaine.