As our nation’s community of family forest owners recovers from the pandemic and last year’s climate-related natural disasters, the health and resiliency of America’s privately owned woodlands remains AFF's top priority. The new year has already brought exciting developments, such as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and an evolving political landscape. In 2021, we look forward to working with the new Congress and presidential administration to continue advocating for the protection and prosperity of our family-owned forests.

At the beginning of this year, President Joe Biden and the 117th Congress were sworn into office. The House of Representatives remains Democrat-controlled, but by a smaller margin of seats than in the 116th Congress. The Georgia runoff election victories of Democratic Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff tied the number of seats between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate for the first time in two decades. The last time the Senate was split 50-50, both parties agreed to share power, but Vice President Dick Cheney held the deciding vote, giving Republicans the majority. This time around, Vice  President Kamala Harris holds the tie-breaking vote, meaning that Democrats now narrowly control the Senate in addition to the House.

With the president citing the economy, climate change, and ending the COVID-19 pandemic as some of his top priorities in office, Democrat majority could pave the way for Biden’s agenda on Capitol Hill. Congress is in discussion over a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that includes stimulus checks, more funding for the vaccine rollout, and $16 billion for rural aid administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Along with advocating for pandemic-related relief, President Biden has also issued several environmental executive orders. Utilizing forests as a natural climate solution is one of the many climate actions the president has committed to. Furthermore, Biden’s climate plan aims to conserve 30% of America’s land and waters by 2030 and fully transition the U.S. to clean energy by 2050. The president has called on the agricultural and forestry industries to help him achieve these goals by investing in sustainable forest management and innovative carbon sequestration techniques. AFF will work to ensure that family forests and their role in carbon storage are acknowledged and remain an essential part of the conversation.

AFF will also be working with the new Congress and Biden Administration to implement the Forest Climate Working Group’s (FCWG) new platform. FCWG, of which AFF is a co-chair, is a bipartisan coalition of public and private entities from across the forestry sector that speak to Capitol Hill with one unified voice.

In November, FCWG released a revamped policy platform with goals to enhance forest resilience and incentivize private landowners to improve forest health. To advance these goals, FCWG has interwoven specific policy proposals throughout their platform that speak to both Republican and Democrat lawmakers. One of the recommendations is a transferable landowner tax credit for private carbon storage actions. This proposal is designed with flexible options for landowners to participate, including an option for landowners involved in carbon programs, like the Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) introduced by AFF and The Nature Conservancy.

To further incentivize family forest owners to participate in the carbon market, Senators Mike Braun (R-IN) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced the Rural Forests Markets Act last August. This bipartisan bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide loan guarantees to businesses and organizations looking to invest in small-scale tree farm carbon programs. These loan guarantees lower the high costs of entry that currently bar most landowners from accessing the carbon market and mitigate the financial risk for both landowners and investors. We are currently amassing support for RFMA from forestry associations, private businesses, environmental NGOs and landowners like you.

To help us advocate for RFMA, you can urge your elected officials to co-sponsor the bill by sending them a prewritten message on our website’s Action Center at www.forestfoundation.org. If you would like to get more involved in advocating for your community of family forest owners, please reach out to us about participating in AFF’s Capitol Hill fly-in. This event is usually held in person, but this spring we will be speaking directly with lawmakers and their staff virtually to ensure everyone’s safety.  

This piece was originally published as part of AFF's quarterly magazine, Woodland Magazine.