Forest Flash: Climate progress in 2020, and encouraging conservation and connectivity
In Pacific Forest Trust’s e-newsletter, Forest Flash, we send you the most recent PFT news and updates on forests, clean water, climate, and wildlife, no more than once or twice a month. Subscribe here.
Forests: Winning at the federal level
The final federal appropriations bill for fiscal year 2020, passed in late December, reflected a number of gains for natural and working lands, including forests. Among them, funding for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) was increased from $1.64 billion to $1.75 billion. EQIP is a cost-sharing program that provides financial and technical assistance to facilitate conservation activities by landowners and land managers, including improving water and air quality, conserving ground and surface water, reducing soil erosion and sedimentation, and improving or creating wildlife habitat. In fiscal 2019, the USDA invested $1.3 billion through EQIP to implement conservation practices on more than 13 million acres; this should grow in 2020.
Also in December, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado released draft legislation to establish a new tax credit for farmers and ranchers, state and local governments, and tribes, to sequester carbon in agriculture, forestry, rangelands, and wetlands. This bill, which builds on the existing tax credit for carbon capture (known as 45Q) passed in 2018, will provide funding to encourage forest and other landowners to manage their land for increased carbon storage. This will promote long-term investments in the land sector to be a part of the solution to a changing climate.
Oregon greenhouse gas legislation: SB 1530
Fighting the climate crisis is urgent, and experts agree that forests are a key part of the solution. In 2020, Oregon state legislators are working again to make Oregon the second state in the nation to pass wide-ranging greenhouse gas limits to fight climate change. 2019’s climate bill, HB 2020, came very close to passage; PFT is working with other Oregon groups and legislative leaders to craft a winning strategy this year.
A new climate bill, SB 1530, was released yesterday in advance of the short legislative session that starts February 3rd. It would regulate climate pollutants generated by fossil fuels, the generation and use of electricity in the state, and specific manufacturing processes that emit GHGs. Phase-ins and rate protections, including no increases in fuel prices in rural communities, should protect vulnerable populations and reduce opposition to passage. Governor Kate Brown recently signaled her strong commitment to crafting climate policy that protects the environment and the economy.
SB 1530, like last year’s HB 2020, would direct the majority of climate investments to the communities most affected by climate change. Investments will be allocated to eligible native American tribes, natural and working lands, wildfire mitigation, and climate mitigation projects at the state and local level. A significant portion of the 25% of the funds generated by this proposal—up from 20% in 2019’s bill—will go toward ensuring Oregon’s natural and working lands, including forests, contribute positively to fighting the climate crisis.
People connecting to connect wildlife habitat: Wildlife Connectivity Symposium
Climate change and human activity have fragmented the habitat of hundreds of species in the West. PFT works to reweave an intact forest landscape, creating protected wildlife corridors across a checkerboard of ownerships so that wildlife can persist and thrive. Our projects ensure that forest management promotes restoration for biodiversity and climate resilience, rebuilding connected landscapes and functional habitats. PFT is playing a leading role in cultivating opportunities for protected wildlife crossings in the Klamath-Cascade area, spanning southern Oregon and Northern California, and to build community and decisionmaker support for such action.
On January 8th, about one hundred experts, including Pacific Forest Trust staff, participated in a symposium in Redding aiming to identify key areas for connectivity and to strengthen local partnerships to connect habitat, specifically around reducing the incidence of wildlife being killed by vehicles. Participants in the symposium, organized by Caltrans and California Department of Fish & Wildlife and sponsored by Pew Charitable Trusts, included habitat experts, state-level wildlife and planning staff, public and private landowners, land managers, and local stakeholders including representatives of the Pit River Nation. Participants were asked to contribute their highest priority potential project sites as well as identify priority species that would be most likely to benefit from future crossings of major highways. Examples of other successful projects were shared as potential models for future work.
We are pleased to help make connectivity a higher priority both locally and at the state level in order to advance opportunities for landscape-level conservation. Find out more about our work to save wildlife habitat.
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