Current News
Forest Legacy: Accelerating Private Forest Conservation
Congressman Chris Gibson introduced a bill today that will accelerate the pace and scale of forest conservation through a modest tweak to the Forest Legacy Program.
LEAFLET, Spring 2015
In this issue: Bringing a Landscape Back to Life; How Climate Change Influences Species Movement…or Not; Conserving & Connecting Sierra Valley, the Largest Alpine Wetland in the U.S.; and Forest Carbon Offsets: Time for A National Standard?
Bipartisan House Bill Seeks to Make Forest Legacy More Nimble
A bipartisan House bill introduced this week would promote conservation of private forestlands by reducing administrative burdens for states and easing concerns from landowners and philanthropists.
New hope in Modoc County for 32.5 square miles of forestland devastated by fire.
A vast and once-glorious Modoc County forest landscape devastated in the 2012 Barry Point wildfire will be reborn and nurtured into healthy forests and meadows, teeming with wildlife.
Protecting California’s natural lands is key to combating climate change
Today, we face climate change as our biggest environmental challenge, and forest conservation is important than ever. Drought and extreme weather already impact California’s communities and economy; rising sea levels already erode our coastline.
Editorial: Easement has a little something for everybody
Every once in a while every one of us should take the time to stop and look around. It’s so easy to get used to being surrounded by lush forests (even in the drought) and majestic volcanoes, that we sometimes forget what an important part those resources play in our lives.
EPA tries to straddle split between forest owners and green groups over burning wood
If a tree falls in the forest, does burning it for energy help fight climate change? Or does it heat the planet even faster than burning fossil fuels?
Mt. Shasta Headwaters Project receives $9.09 million grant
On Thursday, California’s Wildlife Conservation Board voted unanimously to approve $9.09 million in grant funding for the Pacific Forest Trust to acquire a conservation easement on the first phase of the Mt. Shasta Headwaters project, encompassing twenty square miles of working forests that surround the historic mill town of McCloud.
Drummond Woodsum lawyers help Appalachian Mountain Club cash in on uncut trees
In his legal work for the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Maine Appalachian Land Trust, David Kallin has “walked the walk” and then some. This summer he hiked the entire 2,185-mile Appalachian Trail with his wife, their two children and the family dog.
Bonnie Tells Scientists: Light the Way to Better Forest Management.
Confronting climate change will be substantially cheaper and easier if we conserve forests, and the key to that is expert knowledge and science, Undersecretary of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Bonnie told thousands of attendees at the recent 24th World Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Memories of Dr. Hal Salwasser
We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Hal Salwasser, former PFT board member. Hal was a leader in forest stewardship who helped change the direction of our national forests and build a new generation of forest stewards.
E&E ClimateWire: White House releases agenda to prepare U.S. lands and waters for climate change
A new federal program to squelch invasive species, improve scientific assessment of land carbon sinks and design high-rise buildings made of wood is among a wide-ranging series of executive actions announced by the White House Council on Environmental Quality yesterday to preserve America’s natural resources in an era of climate change.
Our take: President Obama releases Priority Agenda for Enhancing Climate Resilience.
We commend the Obama administration for recognizing the positive role that forests and other lands play in addressing climate change, and we commend the report as a significant compendium of current climate-related federal programs that affect natural resources, if not yet a true way forward to harness these resources to mitigate climate change.
LEAFLET, Fall 2014
In this issue: Fixing our dry forests; great forest stewardship is key for wet meadows; stepping up to the climate challenge; and more!
Forests are key to climate: Response to “To Save the, Planet, don’t Plant Trees, NYT Sep. 19, 2014
Forest loss and degradation is the second largest source of CO2 emissions, and the source of 30+% of net “excess”, human-emitted CO2 in the atmosphere today. However, N. Unger suggests that forests were not essential in creating a safe atmosphere for human evolution (which, of course, they were).