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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

SEATTLE, WA — February 5, 2008 — Today, Senators Bingaman (NM), Domenici (NM), Feinstein (CA), Wyden (OR), Cantwell (WA), Allard (CO), Salazar (CO), Craig (ID), Crapo (ID), and Akaka (HI) introduced the Forest Landscape Restoration Act of 2008, 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 and provide economic benefits to communities.

“Millions of acres of federally managed forests are in poor health,” said 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. 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. One potential site in Washington state is the Tieton region in south Central Washington, where the Conservancy has partnered with the U.S. Forest Service, state land-owning agencies, and the Yakama Nation to manage more than 1 million acres of forest lands.

“This act will help enable us to make forests less susceptible to catastrophic fires while bringing economic benefits to local communities,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “The cost of fighting fires is growing every year—it makes sense to encourage projects that will improve the health of these forests and make them less susceptible to fire.”

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 should 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 1950s have occurred in just the last 11 years. Fire-suppression costs are skyrocketing and are now well over $1 billion per year.

“The Forest Landscape Restoration Act will help solve the problems facing our forests by making it possible to implement ecologically-sound projects on a much larger scale than at present,” said David Weekes, state director of the Conservancy in Washington. “Here in Washington, landscapes such as the Tieton Canyon and Wenatchee National Forest will be healthier for fish, wildlife, and people when forest managers have the resources and community support they need to restore our forests.”

In Yakima and Douglas counties in central Washington, the Conservancy has partnered with the U.S. Forest Service, the state Department of Natural Resources, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Yakama Nation to develop a shared strategy for managing more than 1 million acres of forest for long-term forest health. This is an example of the kinds of projects that could be funded by the act.

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. Local conservation groups such as Washington-based Conservation Northwest are backing the bill and are joined by community-based organizations and forest products industry leaders including the Collins Pine Company of Portland, Oregon.

“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,” said Wendy Fulks, acting director for the Conservancy’s Global Fire Initiative. “The Nature Conservancy joins the many voices urging Congress to support the Forest Landscapes Restoration Act and preserve our public forestlands 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 been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.