Conservation non-profit seeks to continue to work with Congress to improve on Farm Bill passed by Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 18, 2018) – The American Forest Foundation (AFF), the leading conservation non-profit that specializes in family forests, commended the House Agriculture Committee for including many provisions in the House Farm Bill, passed by Committee today, that will support America’s 21 million family forest owners. These improvements will help family forest owners across the U.S. tackle some of the biggest forest challenges, and keep their forests producing clean air and water, wildlife habitat, a wood supply for thousands of everyday products, and employs millions in rural America.

“The House Agriculture Committee’s action today to pass the House Farm Bill is an important step forward towards passage of the 2018 Farm Bill,” said Tom Martin, President and CEO of the American Forest Foundation. “We are pleased to see a number of important provisions for family woodland owners in the Farm Bill, including continued support and strong funding for forest owners in the bill’s Conservation Title programs, new policies to improve markets for forest products, as well as the inclusion of new tools that will help forest owners address the large-scale issues like wildfire, facing our forests.

“We look forward to working with members on both sides of the aisle to continue to improve upon this first iteration, and support a bipartisan bill that fully supports family forest owners in keeping their forests healthy and resilient.”

Collectively, family forest owners across America own and care for the largest portion of our U.S. forests. Programs within the Farm Bill provide family forest owners, in addition to farmers, with technical and financial resources to conduct conservation practices to improve wildlife habitat, protect water quality and conserve healthy forests.

The American Forest Foundation seeks for the following in a final 2018 Farm Bill:

• Continued support and funding for family woodland owners within the forestry and conservation programs such as Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP);

• Inclusion of new and improved tools such as the Landscape Scale Restoration Program and new authorities to work across ownership boundaries, in recognition of the need to tackle forestry issues beyond individual property boundaries, at a landscape level

• Continued funding for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program which helps leverage private sector efforts and tackle large landscape-level challenges

• Support and funding for new and enhanced forest markets to help forest owners offset the costs of necessary forest management, via programs such as the Community Wood Energy Program and sections of the Timber Innovation Act

• Improvements and funding for the Healthy Forests Reserve Program to support more voluntary at-risk species conservation

• A fix to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) lumber and wood procurement policy that recognizes the USDA’s Biopreferred Program and allows all wood from well-managed forests, including American Tree Farm System certified forests (a program administered by the AFF), to be used in federal purchasing.

About the American Forest Foundation The American Forest Foundation (AFF), a forest conservation organization, works on the ground with families, partners and elected officials to promote stewardship and protect our nation’s forest heritage. A commitment to the next generation unites our nationwide network of forest owners working to keep our forests healthy and producing the clean water, wildlife habitat and sustainable wood supplies that all Americans count on from forests.