FOREST FLASH May 2023
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. Subscribe here.
On May 24th, we will host the first screening of Beyond the Trees, the new, award-winning documentary about PFT’s work to conserve and manage forests to help fight the climate crisis. Produced by Imaginary Forces and directed by Anthony Gibbs, the film tells the story of how the shared vision of two people, Laurie Wayburn and Fred van Eck, has grown into a compelling and effective model of how we can help save forests to help save the planet and our future. Just completed earlier this year, the film has already won two “Best Documentary” awards—at the Los Angeles and Big Sur Film Festivals, and it is nominated for two more while we await news from several other film festivals.
Profiling PFT’s work on both the van Eck Oregon and California forests, the film features leading forest scientists and practitioners at work, from Jerry Franklin and Paul Henson to Steve Sillett and Marie Antoine, as well as the foresters and loggers whose daily work is essential to restoring our forests to their full vibrancy and function. A collaboration between VanEck, where Jan van Eck is now the CEO, and PFT, the film’s goal is to illustrate how transforming forest management to focus on the whole forest, not just the trees, is key to fighting climate change, ensuring the survival of our rich heritage of wildlife, fish, and plants, and good for both people and profits. If you are interested in attending the initial screening on May 24, please contact Kevin Connelly at kconnelly@pacificforest.org.
Shay Brown, PFT’s Stewardship Associate, out in the field.
With Spring, the arrival of drier weather, and snowmelt, PFT’s stewardship crew gets on its boots and heads to the forest for meetings with our landowners and monitoring of their conserved lands. As the “forever partner” with the land and its landowners, PFT is committed to the stewardship of these resources, and our annual field monitoring is key to ensuring that. It means long days and long hikes but is often “the best part of the job” says Shay Brown, a PFT Stewardship Associate.
In early May, Shay set out to monitor many of PFT’s working forest conservation easements in Mendocino County. These are some of our longest-held easements, going back almost 25 years. A number of these are on properties that have changed hands several times as the properties were sold to new owners. These conservation easements have given both the original owners and easement grantors great peace of mind knowing their beloved forests are protected and also signaled to the new owners that they have indeed acquired a very special place with high conservation values. The Lone Tree Ridge property has had three owners at this time, while Royal Redwoods Ranch has been in the same ownership since the easement was first granted. “Seeing the conservation tradition carried on both in families and with new owners for these special forests is rewarding and such a positive win. I really enjoy the chance to both learn from the long-time owners and help the newer ones understand some of the important conservation benefits of their forests,” said Shay.
The Farm Bill, which is renewed every five years, is the biggest single federal source of funding for forest and other land restoration and conservation. This May, PFT teamed up with a coalition of working lands conservation organizations, including the American Farmland Trust, the Partnership of Rangeland Trusts, the Vermont Housing and Conservation Trust, California Rangeland Trusts, and the Texas Agricultural Land Trust to advocate on Capitol Hill for improvements to Farm Bill conservation programs.
PFT President Laurie Wayburn briefing the House Committee on Agriculture.
We focused our advocacy on an amendment to the Forest Legacy Program (FLP) that would give states the option, on a project-by-project basis, to allow accredited land trusts to hold conservation interests acquired through the program. Granting states this flexibility would align FLP with other Farm Bill conservation programs like Agricultural Conservation Easement Program-Agricultural Lands Easements (ACEP-ALE) and Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), make it more responsive to state and landowner preferences, expand its potential to leverage partner funding, and increase the program’s ability to conserve strategic forest landscapes at pace and scale by augmenting a state’s capacity to implement it. As such, it would expand the impact of the program at no additional cost, and greatly leverage the public-private partnership.
The coalition provided a briefing on conservation easements on working lands for the staff of the House Agricultural Committee, underscoring how federal funds make a huge difference to landowners enabling them to carry on the forest, farm, and ranch stewardship across generations and owners while conserving public benefits on their lands. We met with the staff of over twenty different House and Senate Agriculture Committee members, and our amendment concept was well-received by offices from across the country—from California to Alabama, from Oregon to Georgia. Along with our partners in the California Rangeland Trust, we met with Congressman LaMalfa from California’s 1st district, who is the Chair of the Forestry Subcommittee in the House, to discuss how the minor amendment to the Forest Legacy Program would be a significant benefit for California as well as many other states.
Give with confidence. Charity Navigator awarded Pacific Forest Trust a perfect score in finance and accountability.