Resilience & Recovery: The Role of Family Forests When Disaster Strikes 

Wildfires. Hurricanes. Drought. Invasive species. Disease. Floods. With a changing climate, natural disasters are becoming increasingly more destructive to our nation’s forests – and more costly to those stewarding them. Family forest owners, the largest ownership group of American woodlands, already struggle to access support to maintain healthy forests outside of these major disruptions. And far too often, it’s underserved and underrepresented communities who are hit first and worst by extreme weather events. 

At the same time, forests play a critical role in keeping our lands more resilient when disaster strikes, which can lessen negative impacts on local communities, infrastructure, and economies. This makes it essential to protect the health and wellbeing of this natural resource before natural disasters.  

But how can we support family forest owners to help grow forests that can withstand a changing climate? First let’s dig into how forests create stronger ecosystems and more climate resiliency. Then we’ll look at how U.S. policies can help landowners access resources to improve their forests’ recovery after a natural disaster. 

How do forests contribute to disaster resilience? 

Every part of a healthy forest contributes disaster prevention and recovery: the roots, the trees, the soil, the water, and even the air in between.  

Healthier soil absorbs more water, reducing the amount of run off on the surface. This reduces the amount of flooding and the intensity of flooding that occurs within that area. Healthy soil also means thoroughly binded root systems, which reduces the amount of soil erosion and prevents landslides.  

A well-developed forest is encompassed of trees and plants that act as a windbreak, protecting structures and the overall landscape when disaster strikes.  

This biodiverse ecosystem also plays an integral role in temperature reduction and moderation, maintaining the health of its atmosphere. When a forest ecosystem can maintain a healthy atmosphere, it captures and stores carbon much more efficiently, mitigating the overall impact of climate change, which in turn reduces the frequency of extreme weather events and the intensity of their destruction.  

But all these benefits are not a given – we must provide landowners the tools they need to care for the health and well-being of their woodlands. Carbon projects like AFF’s Family Forest Carbon Program equips small-acreage landowners with the technical and financial support needed to sustainably manage their forests for healthier air, soil, and water, improved biodiversity, and increased disaster resilience.  

Disaster relief: how forest landowners can get help now 

Disaster recovery policies that work for landowners will help them continue providing all the benefits of healthy working forests. In December 2024, Congress passed a robust package that greenlit funding to support those affected by recent natural disasters. This included billions of dollars that will play a critical role in restoring landscapes, rebuilding livelihoods, and strengthening rural communities devastated by natural disasters. 

What did the bill include for landowners? 

Emergency funds: The disaster relief package included $100 billion in supplemental emergency funds to aid states affected by recent natural disasters, particularly for those impacted by 2024’s Hurricanes Helene and Milton.  

Economic assistance: The bill also included $10 billion in economic assistance to farmers dealing with crop loss, overregulation, and market forces outside of their control.  

Block grants for timber losses: Finally, and most importantly for family forest owners, is critical funding that will help landowners recoup their timber value losses from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. $220 million was included to assist forest landowners with timber and crop commodity losses, which may be awarded through block grants to eligible states.  

For all these opportunities, landowners should contact their state service forester, since state forestry, natural resources, or agricultural agencies will be the implementing bodies for funding allocation. 

Long-term recovery: what’s next 

While the 2024 relief package is an important step in bipartisan collaboration to support family forest owners recovering from disasters, there are still actions Congress can take to provide long-term recovery support for these invaluable stewards of America’s woodlands. Here are two pieces of legislation that Congress could pass to building more safeguards for landowners when disaster strikes. 

The Disaster Reforestation Act 

Amending current tax policy is an effective way the government can help landowners recover from natural disasters in the long term. Currently, forest landowners do not receive tax relief from loss of their timber. Since many producers depend upon their timber for their annual income, when their timber is lost due to a natural disaster, they must wait 25 to 40 years before their crop is ready to sell again on the market. As a result, they are seriously financially impacted for a long period of time. Moreover, during this time, the producer must pay annual expenses without the timber crop income while they wait for their timber to mature.  

The Disaster Reforestation Act aims to fix this by amending the tax code to allow forest owners to deduct the market value of their timber destroyed by natural disasters. This alteration would provide private landowners with the financial tools they need to recover and create tax certainty for landowners after a natural disaster.   

The Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act 

Improving the Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) is another way the government can assist private landowners in long-term recovery. Administered through USDA, the EFRP provides financial assistance to private forest landowners to restore forestland damaged by natural disasters. However, as disasters become more frequent and severe, landowners experience increased costs restoring their forests, resulting in longer recovery periods. Currently, the EFRP is not equipped to handle this uptick in natural disasters’ occurrence and intensity. As a result, many forest landowners have difficulty accessing adequate and timely funding.  

The Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act proposes necessary alterations to enhance the effectiveness of the EFRP and improve disaster recovery outcomes for private forest landowners. The legislation strengthens the EFRP’s ability to respond to evolving climate challenges. Key improvements include enhancing the application process, which would accelerate funding disbursements and in turn minimize the economic and environmental impact of delayed restoration; and expanding the list of eligible natural disasters and restoration practices to reflect the increasing diversity of natural threats facing forests.   

As our climate continues to change it is imperative to provide long-term recovery support for family forest owners, who steward the largest portion of our country’s woodlands. But equally as important is providing the tools to improve forest resilience. Sustainable forest management practices, like those provided through the Family Forest Carbon Program, can help increase forests’ resilience to natural disasters while also promoting essential benefits like cleaner air and water, more biodiversity, and more valuable forest products. Together, and with the right tools, we can empower family forest owners to grow more resilient forests and help recover more quickly from the impacts of a changing climate.