Washington, DC - Rita Hite, president & CEO of the American Forest Foundation, a conservation organization that empowers family forest owners to create meaningful conservation impact, released the following statement regarding the U.S. House of Representatives passage of the Farm Bill legislation:

“We appreciate the commitment to family forest owners through HR 7567, The Farm, Food, and National Security Act. The Farm Bill is critical to America’s family forests and forest owners. One in four rural Americans own private forests, and at least 90% of the timber harvested in the U.S. comes from private lands. These families look to federal programs and policies that support natural resources, wildlife habitat, and water quality so they can continue to fuel this economic engine in rural America. 

The bill creates and invests in a new Forest Conservation Easement Program; makes improvements to forest data collection and the Emergency Forest Restoration Program; and continues to invest in wood innovation and voluntary conservation programs like the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, Conservation Reserve Program, and Environmental Quality Incentives Program.  

Family forest owners face challenging economics right now, with rapidly changing markets and destabilization of mill capacity in some areas. It is more important than ever to invest in and develop diverse markets for family forests. 

In addition to the strong investments in conservation and forestry in the bill, we continue to recognize bipartisan support for incorporating additional provisions to unlock much needed private financing to improve the health and resilience of our small, family-owned forests; improve the tax code to more accurately reflect the loss of timber due to emergencies; and, empower family forest owners to more fully participate in bioenergy and wildfire mitigation efforts.”

Learn more about AFF’s policy priorities here.