America's Great Outdoors: A Good Start, but More is Needed to Promote Working Forests
February 16, 2011
Well-managed forests are the cornerstone of America’s great outdoors,
and the American Forest Foundation (AFF) is pleased with the AGO
report’s emphasis on promoting working forests through better
partnerships and incentives.
“Family forests are
fundamental to America’s great landscapes, and family forest owners are
at the center of our nation’s natural heritage. Though the America’s
Great Outdoors report publicizes President Obama’s efforts to protect
America’s woodlands, there is still much to do to help private
landowners,” Tom Martin, President and CEO at the American Forest
Foundation, said today.
“Easements and
acquisitions, both emphasized in the AGO report, are important tools for
forest conservation, but they are not the only tool needed. The report
also calls for better use of other conservation tools such as farm bill
conservation programs. Some 58 million acres of forested land are
threatened by pests and invasive species; an easement on a forest chewed
up by pests or lost to catastrophic fire isn’t a solution to protecting
America’s great outdoors,” said Martin, who was present at the White
House as Obama delivered his remarks.
An estimated 10
million family forest owners own 264 million acres—or 35 percent—of all
forestland in the United States. Private, family-owned woodlands provide
essential benefits such as clean water, wildlife habitat, carbon
storage and recreation to millions of citizens.
The AGO report also
points to the tremendous economic and job-creating benefits of working
forests, which support more than 1 million good paying jobs and produce
more than $175 billion in products each year.
“Today’s release of
the AGO report is the first step in a national, grassroots conservation
effort that will help protect forestland for future generations. In
moving forward, the American Forest Foundation encourages the Obama
administration to consider a broad range of market-oriented tools, tax
incentives, and investments to truly conserve America’s family-owned
forests,” Martin said.
AFF works nationwide
and in partnership with local, state and national groups to provide
hands-on support for America’s 10 million family forest owners, giving
them the tools they need to manage healthy and sustainable woodlands.
To grow the next
generation of leaders ready to inherit America’s natural legacy, AFF
works with tens of thousands of teachers each year through its Project
Learning Tree (PLT) program. In an era where children are becoming
increasingly disconnected from the great outdoors, PLT has helped 75
million students learn how to think, not what to think, about complex
environmental issues.
President Obama
established the America’s Great Outdoors initiative exactly 10 months
ago on April 16, 2010. Obama charged the Secretaries of the Departments
of the Interior and Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency, and the Chair of the White House Council on
Environmental Quality to develop a conservation and recreation strategy
based on the priorities of the American people.