PFT presents our 2017 Top Ten
In our Pacific Forest Trust Top Ten for 2017, we take one more look back (or ten) at a very eventful year before setting our sights firmly on 2018.
10. We completed our reforestation project at the Goose Lake Working Forest, planting three million ponderosa pine seedlings to transform a charred landscape into a new forest that will provide countless benefits for future generations. More info: https://www.pacificforest.org/3m-trees-goose-lake-forest/
9. We wrote a groundbreaking report on the health of California’s key source watersheds, making recommendations that should establish healthy forest policy for years to come. More info: https://www.pacificforest.org/risk/
8. In 2017, we advocated for the Oregon state legislature to dedicate funding toward forests for their role in sequestering carbon emissions. More info: https://www.pacificforest.org/forests-oregon-cap-and-invest/
7. We led a successful effort to direct $20 million of California’s cap-and-trade revenue to the Wildlife Conservation Board for natural resource adaptation investments. We will continue to advocate for California’s climate investments through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to be used for nature-based solutions for climate adaptation on natural and working lands. More info: https://www.pacificforest.org/california-forest-investments-2017/
6. This year, we made big progress on project to conserve and restore more than 5,000 acres on the iconic Black Butte with the Michigan-California Timber Company and US Forest Service. Abutting both Mount Shasta City and Weed, this project will mitigate fire behavior in this high-risk area. More info: https://www.pacificforest.org/conserving-forest-blackbutte/
5. We worked to pass the extension of California’s cap and trade program into law (AB 398), ensuring the carbon offset program (of which forests are the largest part) continues until 2030. More info at https://www.pacificforest.org/10things_capandtrade/ and https://www.pacificforest.org/ca-capandtrade-holds-promise-forests/.
4. We secured a $4 million grant for our multi-partner project to reduce the threat of fire (and sprawl) to the Black Butte and Mount Shasta forests, as well as the communities of Weed and Mount Shasta. https://www.pacificforest.org/major-forest-health-project/
3. Earlier in the year, we worked with the Parsons family to transfer 300 acres of their Mountcrest Working Forest in Oregon, including a beautiful stretch of the famed Pacific Crest Trail, to become a permanent part of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. We will soon close the working forest conservation easement to permanently conserve the remaining 1,800 acres of this beautiful property just south of Ashland. [Note: on January 16, 2018, we officially announced that Mountcrest has been protected!]
2. To encourage the development of natural fire regimes & fire-adapted communities, PFT helped secure $10 million in the California state budget for grants to help rural communities prepare for wildfire, and we advocated for the appropriation of $200 million to CAL FIRE for forest and fire-related grants. More info: https://www.pacificforest.org/california-forest-investments-2017/
1. We received a $500,000 grant from the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, announced on December 6th, for our multi-partner project at McCloud Soda Springs. This funding will help us close an easement there in 2018, conserving another 1,300+ acres of forestland owned by Schroll Timberlands as forest in perpetuity. More info: https://www.pacificforest.org/mccloud-soda-springs-cdfw-grant-press-release/
Thank you for your support for Pacific Forest Trust! With your help, we’ll have even more milestones in 2018. Be a part of our next 25 years and contribute to PFT today.