The Nature Conservancy Urges Congress to Support Legislation to Restore Forest Health

Forest Landscape Restoration Act will restore forest health, prevent severe fires and boost rural economies

SANTA FE, NM — February 5, 2008 — Senators Bingaman (NM), Feinstein (CA), Domenici (NM), Wyden (OR), Salazar (CO), Allard (CO), Cantwell (WA) and Craig (ID), Akaka (HI), Crapo (ID) introduced the Forest Landscape Restoration Act of 2008, an essential piece of legislation that will enable sustainable solutions to the critical forest health problems facing our nation. The Nature Conservancy urges Congress to support this legislation, which will provide up to $40 million annually to restore the health of some of our most important landscapes.

Mountains at Arizona & New Mexico Border © Betsy D. Warner/TNC

“Millions of acres of federally-managed forests are in poor health,” says Stephanie Meeks, acting president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “Forests protect our drinking water, help keep our air clean and shelter wildlife; we must act now to restore their ecological balance.”

Under the legislation, several landscapes will be selected annually to receive forest health treatments. Funding will be authorized for up to ten years and landscapes selected will be a minimum of 50,000 acres. These factors will provide the stability and scale required to restore forest health. Sites will be selected based on demonstrated ecological need, the existence of multi-stakeholder collaborative planning, sound science, private investment and other key criteria that focus on identifying those landscapes with the greatest likelihood of success.

Today, with one exception, current projects to thin small trees, reduce fuels and restore ecological conditions in federally-managed forests are not happening at a scale which will solve the issues of forest health. An average of 3 million acres are treated annually, but that only accounts for about two percent of the total lands that need to be treated to restore forests.

The need for landscape-scale treatments to restore forest health is urgent. Across America forests are choking. Previous land management practices, including nearly a century of fire-exclusion, have resulted in a build up of vegetation that hinders tree growth and regeneration. Unhealthy forests are more susceptible to diseases and pests such as bark beetles, which have devastated forests from northern California to Colorado.

Unnaturally dense forests can also fuel extreme fires. Seven of the worst fire seasons since the 1950’s have occurred in just the last eleven years. Fire-suppression costs are sky-rocketing and are now well over $1 billion per year. Fires such as Arizona’s Rodeo-Chediski fire in 2002, which burned nearly half a million acres and caused the evacuation of 30,000 people, can be devastating to both people and nature alike.

“The Forest Landscape Restoration Act builds upon the success elements of New Mexico’s Collaborative Forest Restoration Program and offers a nationwide program to solve forest problems by focusing investment on ecologically-sound projects on a scale that is large enough to be truly sustainable,” says Terry Sullivan, state director of The Conservancy in New Mexico. “Here in New Mexico, biologically critical landscapes such as the Gila National Forest will benefit from more focused application of federal fuels treatment and specific dollars for ecological restoration.”

The Nature Conservancy, a leading expert on forest ecology and the role of fire in ecosystems, is part of a broad range of organizations supporting the legislation. “This bill makes a serious attempt to merge forest restoration and rural economic development,” says Lynn Jungwirth, director of the Watershed Research and Training Center in northern California. “The focus on integrating environmental and community benefits is the only way this will all work.”

The criteria for selecting landscapes will be based on the successful model demonstrated in the White Mountains of Arizona. Here, over 15,000 acres of forest are scheduled to be restored annually. The by-products generated through thinning of excess vegetation are stimulating a local wood processing industry, bringing economic benefits to the community and reducing costs of thinning treatments by 50 percent within five years.

“The Forest Landscape Restoration Act will extend these opportunities to other landscapes, communities, and businesses affected by forest health,” says Sherry Barrow, owner of SBS Wood Shavings, a producer of animal bedding and other products from ecological restoration treatments in Ruidoso, New Mexico.

“As climate change threatens to increase pressures on already fragile forests, the need to act now to restore the health of our forests is greater than ever,” says Anne Bradley, Fire Initiative Manager for the Conservancy’s New Mexico Chapter and member of the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program advisory board. “The Nature Conservancy joins the many voices urging Congress to support the Forest Landscapes Restoration Act and preserve New Mexico forest lands for future generations.”

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have helped protect more than 119 million acres of land and more than 5,ooo river miles around the world. Learn more about the Conservancy's work in New Mexico.