FOREST FLASH November 2021
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.
PFT met with many climate leaders over the course of COP26.
Intact forests are critical climate solutions both in the US and globally, and this point was central at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Glasgow. A difference at this COP was the emphasis on forests’ role for climate overall, not just as carbon sinks. Thus, forests’ mitigation and adaptation role in addressing the climate crises was seen to be integrally linked with biodiversity, healthy watersheds, fire resiliency, and thriving communities. The COP emphasized how private capital and Voluntary Carbon Markets are needed to help finance work in forests and other natural climate solutions, even as governments were called upon to stop forest loss and degradation, major sources of CO2 emissions. PFT, an accredited observer to the COP since 2005, met leaders and activists to advocate for the vital role forest conservation and stewardship must play in meeting our shared global challenge.
In PFT’s November 10 webinar from COP26, Seeing the Forest: For the Climate, a panel of internationally-renowned forest leaders shared their thoughts on forests as natural climate solutions, with inside impressions from the COP. As PFT board member Andrea Tuttle, a longtime COP attendee, remarked, “There’s definitely a shift in mood and tone. The urgency is about action. The words ‘Nature Based Solutions’ are heard throughout, and forests are central to the substance.” Jerry Franklin, another PFT Board member and the ‘father of new forestry,’ called for forest management that increases natural forest structure and function and the mean carbon stock per acre, also noting that typical industrial plantations are not additive carbon or climate solutions. Ann Bartuska, PFT’s Board Chair, noted that if she had but one thing she could manage forests for as climate solutions, it would be for their watershed functions, which are consistent with both increased resilience and carbon stocks as well.
Reflecting upon COP26, we know that the challenges ahead are significant. We’re equally confident in Pacific Forest Trust’s ability to continue to be a leader in demonstrating the effectiveness of forests as natural climate solutions.
PFT celebrates our Land Trust Accreditation status.
After a rigorous process to ensure we are operating at the highest possible standards, we are pleased to announce that the Land Trust Accreditation Commission has renewed PFT’s accredited land trust status for another five years, our third consecutive renewal. The Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, requires extensive documentation and third-party evaluation prior to awarding this distinction.
Accreditation is granted to organizations that show sound finances, practice ethical conduct and responsible governance and can ensure lasting stewardship. PFT is one of 1,363 land trusts across the United States according to the Land Trust Alliance’s most recent National Land Trust Census, and more than 450 of these trusts are accredited. Accredited land trusts now steward almost 20 million acres. We are particularly proud to attain this accreditation as we prepare to enter our 30th year of protecting forests for their many benefits. PFT is committed to building on the land we protect, both in fee and under Working Forest Conservation Easements over the coming years!
PFT advocates for the ESF to be protected under a WFCE.
In a November 15 testimony to the Oregon House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, PFT President Laurie Wayburn reiterated our support for the Elliott State Forest to be protected under a conservation easement, as called for in the 2017 legislation that authorized a $100,000,000 bond issuance to ensure its protection. Crafted as a Working Forest Conservation Easement, this would both permanently and bindingly protect the Elliott while guiding its management for the restoration and maintenance of old forest functions and multiple public benefits. A WFCE would meet the goals of the legislation that also called specifically for fish and wildlife, public recreation, and sustainable employment benefits. Such an approach is entirely consistent with and supportive of having the ESF as a research forest, especially to focus on managing forests for durable climate benefits, which PFT supports.
Wayburn complimented the process to come up with a long-term solution for the Elliott, and noted the good intent language the Department of State Lands-led process is currently considering. But, she stressed that intent doesn’t always carry through, and there are countless examples where good intent language doesn’t translate to intended outcomes without a binding, transparent and enforceable basis. Trying to make up for damages with lawsuits after the fact is unacceptable. A clear, enforceable, lasting mechanism—a WFCE—is needed.
In her comments to the committee, Wayburn referenced PFT’s success in managing the 7,200-acre Van Eck Forest in adjacent Lincoln County for its benefits to wildlife, climate, and community under such a WFCE. The Van Eck Forest has yielded chip for a million reams of paper and wood for 2,500 2,000-square foot homes, thus providing sustainable jobs, all the while doubling the carbon stocks on the property and enhancing the natural forest structure.
We believe that a permanent working forest conservation easement, a tool included in the legislation authorizing the $100 million bond to protect the Elliott, is the right mechanism for protection. It is compatible with and supportive of a research forest. We will continue to work with Oregon’s elected officials and conservation partners to ensure that a working forest conservation easement protecting the public benefits of the forest be included in future actions for the ESF.
Give with confidence. Charity Navigator awarded Pacific Forest Trust a perfect score in finance and accountability.