After two decades working in favor of wood, water, wildlife, and a healthy climate, PFT is still in love with forests—few other resources offer such beauty and bounty. We still get giddy from the scent of pine needles crunching underfoot, and we still believe saving private working woodlands is the best thing we can do for the planet. Together, we’re building partnerships, policies, and incentives for forests and you.

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WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT FORESTS FOR CLIMATE?

In 1993, few people knew, but with other climate pioneers and science on our side, we fought to gain recognition that the most powerful thing to do for climate was keep forests as forests. That recognition emerged in California, and grew from an idea, to a policy, to a law, to a new market, to an area of public investment.

THEY’RE KEY TO COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE, THAT’S WHAT.

In 2013, California’s governor, finance department, and legislature unanimously identified but three areas to invest the hundreds of millions of dollars that will be generated by AB 32 auction revenues. The climate champs? Energy efficiency, transportation, and forests.

MAKING DOING GOOD FORESTRY EASIER

Working forest conservation only works if it works for landowners and supports timber economies. PFT helps create funding sources and incentives for excellent conservation and stewardship, set standards, streamline permitting, and advocate for private landowners on issues like fire liability and options for protecting endangered species on private lands. Over the years, PFT staff have walked 10,000+ miles in the halls of government—local, state, and national. We’ve visited our nation’s capitol over 200 times, tested thousands of ideas, and written words in the millions to champion forest landowners and forest investment. Next? Increasing those investments for climate resilience and adaptation.

SHAPING THE FOREST CARBON MARKET

Based on keeping forests healthy and intact, PFT created a new forest commodity—healthy climate. We developed the first state-backed voluntary forest offset protocols in 2006 with rigorous accounting standards. Then we showed landowners that stewarding their forests for climate benefits benefitted their bottom line— the van Eck forest was the first CA registered emissions reduction project. 2013 debuted the CA Air Resources Board’s first compliance offsets, and today over a million acres of forestland across the country is enrolled the California carbon market.

FORESTS AS LIVING LABORATORY: 13 YEARS OF VAN ECK

Ecology and economy can work together in perfect harmony, and the lush coastal van Eck forests demonstrate the value of good forestry four-fold: WFCEs, forest carbon offsets, FSC certified timber, and streamlined regulatory efficiency for endangered species like the spotted owl. Today, Humboldt State University is studying the return of van Eck’s old growth characteristics due to PFT’s stewardship.

GROWING RESILIENT FORESTS

Working forests that are healthy, diverse, and connected offer a lifeline to wildlife adapting to climate change. They can link large protected landscapes and provide places of refuge for animals on the move. A key concept in PFT’s “America’s Private Forests,” WFCEs balance ecology with economy, compensating landowners for their forests’ natural values in exchange for careful land stewardship in perpetuity.

SAVING THE WATERSHEDS OF THE KLAMATH-CASCADE

10 million acres—that’s a pretty big wood basket! And a big water tap, starting with one of the only glaciers still growing. The beautiful, biodiverse Klamath-Cascade is home to over 30 conifer species and 600 plants and animals. In this one mega-landscape we have the opportunity to safeguard our climate, watersheds, and wildlife while boosting rural economies. But only if we keep it together. Partners like Roseburg and Bascom Pacific helped us conserve over 20,000 acres so far, and 20,000 are proposed this year in the McCloud watershed. Good news for wet meadows and trout streams, local jobs and San Diego’s ice cube trays!

WHAT ABOUT WFCES?

With the Leonard Lake Reserve in 1997, PFT invented the first conservation tool that prevents forest loss and helps grow structurally complex forests to safeguard water supplies and wildlife habitat—even while harvesting timber year after year: the working forest conservation easement (WFCE). Landowners get rewarded for excellent forest management, and the public benefits from healthy forests—forever.

PROTECTING FAMILY FORESTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

When forests are in the family, stewardship is a labor of love. Trees and meadows have names. Secret fishing holes and berry patches are passed down to grandkids. PFT helps protect this heritage (28,650 acres so far, including Campstool Ranch, 2013) and supports the business of family forestry with policies and incentives that help tens of thousands steward their land.