USA: Forest Landscape Restoration Act of 2008 will get more chainsaws killing!
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. 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 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.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/washington/press/press3351.html
— Posted to http://forestpolicyresearch.com via gmail to posterous and
also to forestpolicyresearch@yahoogroups.com