A Project Learning Tree representative attended the session to speak up about the role environmental education should play in the initiative to connect youth to the Great Outdoors.  Mark Miller, an enthusiastic PLT Facilitator from Apopka, FL shared some of his feedback from the session:

It was interesting that even the youth report addressed how much students want to do more outside activities - both on a recreational and educational front. From soccer for school credit, to more PE, or providing more field trips to nature centers, parks or trails. Everyone shared some basic fundamental ideas to stimulate outdoor opportunities for students.  

I believe - to do this, involvement must start from the top and be administrated downward - but to provide that key element in reaching students it must start from the bottom up…

In response to the challenges and obstacles involved with connecting kids to the outdoors, Mark stressed the need for “greater partnerships, grants and required direction for getting kids outdoor like the passage of No Child Left Inside Act.”

What Works toward conservation, recreation and reconnect people to the outdoor?  “Grants,” Mark said.  “I mentioned two—our recent planting of over 325 trees to rebuild an Pine Upland Community, and  and several years back we had the opportunity to have 6 students for a whole summer explore the many different environmental careers. Curriculums like PLT and many others can offer that opportunity.

In the discussion about the role of the federal government, Mark shared, “education was a big discussion, partnerships and advertising” to raise awareness about environmental problems.  “And again, passing programs like No Child Left Inside.

Putting it all together, Mark stressed:

It keeps coming back to the concept of providing the right education and getting the requirement into the system to promote outdoor usage and connections!

Project Learning Tree offers one of the original curriculums that can promote many facets of Outdoor and EE Connections. It truly can be the ‘window to the world.’

America’s private landowners are key stewards of our forests, but costs for conserving and maintaining their forests can be high. These forestlands provide us with a wealth of goods and services - clean water, clean air, abundant forest products, wildlife habitat, open spaces, and opportunities for outdoor recreation and education. Private forest contributions to these goods and services can be affected by increased housing density also increasing other threats such as wildfires, insects, and pollution.

Some of the report’s key findings include:

• Housing density will increase on more than 57 million acres of America’s private forests between 2000 and 2030.

• Up to 75 percent of the private forests in many regions are predicted to experience a substantial increase in housing density.

• Private forests that play a critical role in supplying our nation with clean water resources, and the timber we need to build homes and communities across the country will be threatened.

• A number of species including the already-endangered Florida panther and the grizzly bear are also expected to be put at risk because of loss of forestland.

The study also identifies areas where other threats to forests - like fire, pollution and disease - will be made much worse as a result of forest loss.  Secretary Vilsack wants USDA, the U.S. Forest Service, and national, state and local partners to take an “all hands” approach to address these threats regardless of whether the forests are publicly or privately owned.

It’s important for each of us to understand the benefits that forests provide us in our daily lives - whether we live in an urban, suburban, or rural community. It’s in our best interest to recognize these benefits and heighten the awareness that we all have an investment in making sure our forestland is conserved now and for future generations.

Hubbard is the U.S. Forest Service, Deputy Chief, State and Private Forestry

I was proud to join Senator Dianne Feinstein (D- CA) in introducing bipartisan legislation to help rural families hold on to their lands – working lands that are vital to the economic well-being of rural communities and that provide benefits to all Americans from coast to coast.

The Family Farm Estate Tax Deferral Act of 2010, S. 3664, will help preserve forest land by helping families avoid the pressure of selling to pay taxes when land is passed down from one generation to the next. Heirs shouldn’t be burdened by an excessive tax that diminishes the value of working forests.

This American tradition – of passing on family forest land to the next generation – is under threat like never before. Because so many families are “land rich and cash poor,” getting socked with inheritance taxes is the final straw for many families who have tried desperately to keep developers and auctioneers at bay.

Most of America’s forests and woodlands are privately owned – with 62 percent of  this private land owned by family forest owners. While Idaho is slightly different from other parts of the country, where only about 15 percent of our forests are privately owned, much of this land is owned by families. However, these lands are in and around our publicly owned forests, providing important watershed protection, habitat, and timber to supply local mills.  We need to reward, not punish, these landowners for doing the right thing.

This bipartisan legislation excludes the value of the land, including the timber value, from the estate tax, if the land is kept in the family as a working forest or farm. As long as timber harvesting is done sustainably through a Forest Stewardship Plan, the land and timber will continue to be exempt from the estate tax. This will be a significant relief from the current law that provides a very limited forest exemption and requires the tax to be “recaptured” if timber is harvested.

If forest owners opt to place a conservation easement on their property, our legislation will provide a tax exemption of up to $5 million or 50 percent of the value of the land under a permanent easement.

My continued preference is that the estate tax is permanently repealed for all Americans. Recognizing that the votes are not there to accomplish that goal at this time, legislation like this is vital to providing as much relief as possible, until we reach that ultimate goal.

Unless something changes, in 2011, family forest owners will face a tax burden of 55 percent on land valued over $1 million, which is the same rate established in 2001. Here in lies the perfect storm: escalating estate taxes and more than one-third of forest owners over 65 years old. And, less than 4 percent of family woodlands are protected from development with conservation easements.

According to the American Forest Foundation, an estimated 2.6 million acres of woodlands a year are harvested and 1.4 million acres are sold just to pay the estate tax. That’s a loss not only for forest owners, but for all Americans. It’s time to make permanent estate tax changes to keep working forests, working.

Reps. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and 79 representatives from 35 states are leading a bipartisan effort that is calling on the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to change its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system to give credit to all of the major third-party forest certification systems in the U.S.

Representatives from states that have millions of acres of private forestland signed the letter and noted that the LEED rating system excludes two of the largest third-party wood certification programs in the U.S. from its “certified wood credit.” The American Tree Farm System^® (ATFS) and the Sustainable Forest Initiative^® have certified over 84 million acres of forestland in the U.S. That is just about three times the amount of forests that are certified through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and yet they are the only certification program granted a “certified wood credit” in the LEED system. Additionally, even though wood is a much more environmentally-friendly product and a renewable resource than other building materials such as concrete and steel, however, the LEED rating system does not give wood preference.

“There is nothing greener than the production of sustainable harvested wood from our small woodlots and American forests. Wood can store carbon for hundreds of years and uses less energy to produce than many other building products,” Schrader said.

Goodlatte also defended the bipartisan effort and berated the USGBC when he stated that “America’s forests and forest products industry are the backbone of many rural communities across the country, providing family-wage jobs and economic development, while also providing clean air, water and wildlife habitat. The approach that USGBC is taking discourages the creation of American jobs and recovery from our economic crisis,”

Michael Goergen, executive vice president and CEO of Society of American Foresters said that the “USGBC should be encouraging the use of wood from America’s family forest owners and all credible certification systems. FSC wasn’t designed with rural America in mind. FSC was established to address issues largely in tropical forests where the legal framework isn’t as robust as in the U.S. and it shows as 60 percent of the FSC certified land is overseas. Let’s support home grown sustainable forests, family landowners, and American workers,”

Also in the fight to get the USGBC to use wood from America’s forest owners and keep money inside of our country is Tom Martin, president and CEO of the American Forest Foundation. “Most of America’s forests are privately owned. Down the road from where you live, in every corner of the country, family forest owners are doing their best to keep forests as forests. But they need healthy markets to keep their forests healthy. They need resources to support sustainable management practices. Without healthy markets, it becomes more difficult for landowners to invest back into their forests to keep them productive for wildlife, clean water, and good jobs. It makes it more difficult to keep the developers at bay,” Martin said.

Martin also said that “the family forest owners who are certified through our sustainable forest management program, the American Tree Farm System, should be at the top of the list when it comes to choosing wood for U.S. buildings.”

They seem to all agree that architects and builders should get more credit when they choose the most environmentally sustainable material- and that’s wood, American wood.

“It’s time to give credit where credit is due – and that’s to family forest owners doing the right thing by managing their forests. They deserve more markets for their wood,” Martin said.

It’s time to take decisive action on the estate tax, and provide the permanent relief that Arkansas’s forest owners are desperately seeking.  Tree Farmers are frequently forced to choose between their forest management objectives and the need to pay their estate tax liability. The tax code shouldn’t be forcing forest landowners who want to be good stewards of the land to make land management decisions that aren’t consistent with good forestry. Uncertainty in the estate tax law has caused incredible difficulties for the families of foresters, farmers and small business owners alike, which is why I have fought for a quick resolution to the issue that is both permanent and fair.

Our bi-partisan proposal provides an election for deceased taxpayers to either retain this year’s estate tax rate, which is zero percent with “carry over basis,” or file under the provisions of the new proposal. If Congress does not act this year, the federal estate tax is scheduled to increase to 55 percent with only a $1 million exemption at the beginning of 2011.

We’ve introduced a similar measure before that received broad bipartisan support and was successfully added to the non-binding congressional budget resolution. Now it’s time for Congress to provide permanent, fair reform for the estate tax, and to do so in a way that rewards, rather than punishes, the investments family forest owners have made in our sustainable private forests.

Vilsack points out, “At the same time, a failure to embrace renewable energy represents a lost economic opportunity for the nation, particularly for rural America. Our farms, forests, fields, and oceans are a wellspring of clean energy resources just waiting to be tapped. As we work to utilize alternative energy sources like biofuels, woody biomass, and anaerobic digesters, farmers and ranchers can benefit from new markets for bioenergy crops and agricultural byproducts — including those produced on land that is marginal for production of traditional crops.”

The American Forest Foundation is working with Congress for support of clean, renewable energy from America’s family-owned forests.  Family forests can sustainably supply roughly 90 million dry tons of renewable material annually, mostly small diameter trees and harvesting byproducts.  This can be converted into between 4-6 billion gallons of renewable fuel or enough electricity to power over 1 million homes. 

In addition to the clean energy benefits, producing renewable energy from sustainable family forests gives family owners additional markets and revenue streams for their products.  Harvesting renewable energy from forests will lead to cleaner water, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved wildlife habitat, and increased opportunities to keep families on the land and keep their lands forested.

Because of these benefits for family forest owners and the environment, the American Forest Foundation supports increased opportunities for the production of renewable energy from sustainably managed family forests.  To learn more about what AFF is doing to promote renewable energy from America’s family-owned forests, visit http://www.forestfoundation.org/policy_energy.html

In 2004 Hurricane Ivan wreaked havoc with its destruction to south Alabama. The day after the storm the stumpage price for our wood products were more than halved. After 5 months of logging clean-up and recouping only pennies on the dollar for salvaged timber, we decided to turn adversity into opportunity. Over the next 4 years we planted 450 acres of longleaf, and now we manage this ecosystem with prescribe burning, herbicide site prep and release and spraying for control and eradication of invasive species.

It was through incentive cost-share programs for replanting, control of invasive species, education for certified burn manager, wildlife habitat improvement programs, land recovery program that we were able to reinvest, replant and manage for sustainable forestry.

The results—an ecosystem that is thriving with wildlife including turkey and quail and the threatened gopher tortoise.

It has become our responsibility as family forest owners to manage our forest for improvement and sustainability.

We share and promote good forest management for future generations. We are actively involved in education through personal contacts, seminars, field days and programs such as Classroom in the Forest/Forest in the Classroom with school children on an annual basis. “Project Learning Tree,” an American Forest Foundation program that is used to help educate teachers in environmental education. In May we had 500 people visiting our farm on two separate field days. One of these field days was titled “Longleaf Restoration and Wildlife Management.”

There has been a dramatic decline in USDA-Forest Service Cooperative State and Private Funding from $4million in 2007 to $2.7million in 2010. This is just one example of the challenges that we all face. If these financial incentives are not there for the private forest owners to assist in good management improvements, then sustainability will be adversely affected. This is vital for future generations.

We need legislation to include incentives for private family forests to be able to participate in carbon markets. Managed forests can increase the carbon storage from its current 12% to as much as 20%. Biomass will become a renewable part of our energy as we move to cleaner forms of renewable energy in the future. Since private forests make up 75% of all forested land in Alabama and 62% of forested land in the US (423 million acres) those legislative policies need to define biomass where private forests are included in this definition.

2.6 million acres of family forests change hands each year; and 1.4 million acres are actually loss to urbanization or development as a result of families having to sell property or cut timber to pay federal estate taxes. This could be alleviated with legislation such as the Thompson Family Farm Preservation and Conservation Estate Tax Act.

We are proactive when it comes to education. We realize that if the next generations are not exposed to managed forests and not exposed to America’s Great Outdoors with its inherent benefits then this legacy will wither and be only history. We are each called to be good stewards of what we have. Being good stewards of our family forests is part of that sustainable legacy. We need funding and incentives for environmental education to ensure that our children learn to appreciate and invest themselves in our environment’s future.

As you are aware private family forests provide many benefits to our society. Jobs (avg.8 jobs/1000 acres), clean air and clean water (1 acres supplies enough oxygen for 18 people), wood products and their derivatives, a source for renewable energy with less carbon and environmental impact than concrete and steel, recreation and aesthetics. Private forest owners need incentives to allow them to continue to manage and preserve their forests.

These listening sessions are a great move forward in bringing the discussion and awareness of how fragile America’s Great Outdoors is. We need to be proactive in our conservation efforts. This can effectively be done in partnership with private family forests, industry and the federal government. Let’s get to work to strengthen this partnership.

Private woodlands in America are key to protecting America’s landscapes, account for more than land than public forests, and are essential to a healthy outdoor strategy. On Monday, June 28, a session was held in Charleston, South Carolina and at least four members of the American Tree Farm System, (ATFS) participated in the event. Jon Spearman, 2004 Southern Regional Tree Farmer of the Year, was a panelist.

The event focused on the restoration of the longleaf pine ecosystem. The 4.4 million forest owners in the South are essential to southern longleaf pine restoration. Once covering more than 90 million acres, the longleaf pine is one of the most threatened ecosystems, with only three million acres remaining. This however, is twice the amount that existed 15 years ago, in large part because of the restoration efforts of family forest owners in the South.

Ken Arney, Deputy Regional Forester for State and Private Forestry at the U.S. Forest Service said that, “We won’t reach our goals for longleaf pine restoration without family forests. We appreciate the commitment and input of ATFS members who are helping to restore this vital southern ecosystem.”

“When you consider that the longleaf pine was once the prominent tree from Southern Virginia to eastern Texas, there was a reason for that, said John Spearman. “I told Secretary Vilsack that I’ve learned over time — through hurricanes and pest problems — that longleaf is a stronger tree. When other trees were splintered and on the ground after a hurricane, up and down the coast there stood the long leaf. The restoration effort of this sturdy tree is really important,” added Spearman.

He also pointed out that the panel talked about the threat of fragmentation and urban sprawl on the forest landscape. “This is the biggest problem at this point. Once you lose the forest, we also lose the benefits that go with it – clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation. All that is lost too,” said Spearman.

In a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, Nancy Sutley, ATFS members, Skeet Burris, Walt McPhail and Salem Saloom noted that, “Each of us has a story to share about our passion and commitment to sustainable land management. We demonstrate this commitment every day – our forests are certified by the ATFS, the nation’s largest and oldest forest certification program,” they wrote. “More forest owners would participate in restoration efforts and commit to sustainable management if better long-term policies and incentives were put in place.”

The writers went on to thank the Obama Administration for the longleaf pine restoration program and encouraged the administration to “consider a broad range of market-based tools, tax-incentives and conservation investments to truly conserve America’s family forests – which make up one-third of the America’s forested great outdoors.”

Several key points were made during the panel discussion and break out sessions that reinforced AFF’s policy agenda including the need for robust markets and improving tax policies to reduce the burden on family forest owners and working forests. It was also noted how important partnerships are with local groups and nonprofits such as the American Forest Foundation that provide on- the- ground support.

]]> http://forestblog.org/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=673 http://forestblog.org/wordpress/?p=668 http://forestblog.org/wordpress/?p=668#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:13:01 +0000 Jennifer Jones http://forestblog.org/wordpress/?p=668 Using market forces to protect and restore America’s air, water and land was the theme of the 3^rd Annual Conference on Ecosystem Markets, sponsored by the American Forest Foundation and World Resources Institute.

Nearly 300 people including representatives from government, business, the investment community and conservation organizations gathered for two days of stimulating and vigorous discussion about the emerging field of using the market place to pay people to protect the benefits that nature provides to us, such as clean water and wildlife.

As Tom Martin, President and CEO of AFF told the gathering “good management takes good markets.”  The simple concept behind the conference, Martin noted is that “by paying for the many benefits that well-managed land provides, we can help provide the income needed for landowners to manage sustainably.”

This exciting new tool for protecting the great outdoors is rapidly evolving. There are billions of dollars in the private sector that have been, and can continue to be, channeled and invested in conservation that can bring in comparable and even superior rates of return to traditional investment opportunities.

In one session, discussion centered on the role of forests in helping to solve the climate crisis.  Participants noted that forests can achieve 20-25% of U.S. needed reductions in carbon emissions over 50 years, while also supplying wood products, clean water and wildlife habitat. AFF co-chairs the Forest-Climate Working Group to ensure that America’s forests are part of the solution to climate change.

The loss of private forests was highlighted.  Connie Best from the Pacific Forest Trust noted that we are losing 1.5 million acres of private forests annually.   Andrew Goldberg from the Dogwood Alliance said that we are losing more forestland in the Southeast than any other area of the U.S., despite the fact that these forests are providing us with a lot of ecosystem services.  He noted that the Southeast has the most diversity of any area in North America.

Kent Gilges from Conservation Forestry LLC sees the market for ecosystem services as a way to increase the availability of scare resources for conservation.  There are millions of acres providing healthy forests, clean rivers and streams and places for wildlife all across the country, owned by people who need a return on their investment. This is the group – landowners – that should be the target of a large scale ecosystems market.  Gilges emphasized that investors are looking at ecosystem services as an asset class in itself.

Two main threads are evident, according to Ray Hartwell, of Ecosystem Economics. The need for funding for development of projects prior to sale of credits – meaning the need for working capital; and the use of financial tools to develop markets.   Pat O’Connell from Evergreen Conservation Finance added that bonds could help shift the inefficiencies in conservation because the majority of conservation funding is transaction based.  He suggested tax-exempt bonds as a way of funding ecosystem services projects.

Michael Beck, who works in San Diego said that the work he is doing is focused on the preservation of biodiversity and what drives the program is economics and the balance that’s needed — projects have to make sense economically and work for a broad range of stakeholders.

While much of the two days focused on digging deeper into the big questions around how to ensure new markets help achieve meaningful protection of our air, water and land, and what kind of federal policies (such as the 2012 Farm Bill) can be used to push market development forward, the consensus was clear that market incentives do matter and ecosystems markets offer an exciting new tool by which we all can protect and restore natural resources.

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