Policy At-A-Glance: August 2024

USDA Press Office | Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced recently that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is making $190 million available to help private forest landowners adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change and retain working forestlands. Of the total, $140 million is available to support state-endorsed cost-share programs for landowners. Cost-share payments lower the financial barriers for landowners to adapt to climate change by making forests more resilient to changing climate conditions, and to store more carbon on the landscape. For example, a landowner may decide to work with states and non-profits to strategically thin their private forestland, removing small-diameter trees that compete for scarce resources, allowing large trees to grow larger and sequester more carbon.

Additionally, $50 million is available to programs that issue payments directly to landowners to adopt practices that increase carbon sequestration and storage of their forests. Forest management impacts the amount of carbon stored and sequestered, and this funding opportunity incentivizes carbon stewardship. Among other things, payments to landowners also provide financial incentive to maintain their land as forests rather than convert it to other uses. Eligible applicants include state forestry agencies or their equivalents and nonprofit organizations.

SGSF Policy Director says:

“This funding provides the opportunity for state forestry agencies to play a leadership role in defining and helping landowners implement climate-smart forestry practices. By either providing support to existing state cost-share programs or enabling states to develop entirely new opportunities for landowners, this announcement recognizes that states have the foremost expertise in what makes the most sense in their region. SGSF and its members look forward to being a key implementer of this funding to landowners, especially those who have been historically underserved.”

USDA Press Office | The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service has published a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed national old growth forest plan amendment. The proposed amendment is available in the Federal Register, and will be open for public comment until September 19. The purpose of this amendment is to provide consistent guidance for the stewardship, conservation, and recruitment of old growth across national forests.

At President Biden’s direction, the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) completed the first-ever nationwide inventory of old and mature forests, and developed definitions for more than 200 forest types in the United States. This initial inventory report showed that the BLM and Forest Service manage approximately 32 million acres of old growth and 80 million acres of mature forests on federally managed lands, for a total of 112 million acres. Old-growth forests represent 18% and mature forest another 45% of all forested land managed by the two agencies. The Forest Service also recently finalized The Mature and Old Growth Threat Analysis, which identifies threats to mature and old growth forests on Forest Service and BLM lands.

SGSF Policy Director Says:

“SGSF recognizes that old-growth forests contribute to nature-based climate solutions, increase biodiversity, provide outdoor recreation opportunities and more. We also agree with recent findings that the greatest threats to old-growth forests on federal lands come from wildfire, insects and disease. We believe the best management strategies for our federal forests are developed through collaboration at the local level, and our members have been part of those conversations in every state. We look forward to providing comment to the USFS to help ensure national-level guidance on old-growth management respects and defers to local expertise.”

Press Release | U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Roger Marshall introduced two bipartisan bills to expand the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS) ability to plan and invest in forest health and reforestation efforts. The Branch Out Implementation Act and the Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources (RNGR) Support Act would offer state foresters greater flexibility to manage, plan, and implement their Forest Action Plans and would strengthen existing reforestation and nursery programs.

The Branch Out Implementation Act will reauthorize and boost funding for state Forest Action Plans, which serve as planning roadmaps for investments in conservation for states across the nation. In the West, years of severe drought, wildfires, and disease threaten the long-term health of our forests. This bill will allow flexibility for funds to go towards implementation as well as development of Forest Action Plans. The RNGR Support Act will codify and expand a Forest Service program that supports reforestation efforts by states, Tribes, and private nurseries. USFS estimates that 3.6 million acres across the nation are in need of reforestation.

SGSF Policy Director Says:

“These bills are critical markers for getting two of our highest state forester priorities into the next Farm Bill. The Branch Out Implementation Act would enable a continuation of “flexible funding” from the Infrastructure Bill for Forest Action Plan implementation, while the RNGR Support Act would create a dedicated funding stream for state-run nurseries. We ask all forestry stakeholders in the South to encourage your southern Senators to sign on as co-sponsors to both of these critical pieces of legislation.”

USFS Southern Region Office of Communication | Communities that have limited resources and face high risk from wildfire are getting additional support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. The announcement of an additional $250 million in Community Wildfire Defense grant awards for vulnerable communities comes at a time when wildfires are becoming more destructive across much of the South.

“The southern United States experiences more wildfires than any other region in the United States,” said Shardul Raval, Fire and Aviation Management director for the Forest Service’s Southern Region. “Wildfire and associated smoke impacts everyone. Reducing wildfire risk means we must all work together – federal and state agencies, Tribes, local fire departments, partners and communities.”

“The Community Wildfire Defense Grant program is one way we invest in the health, safety and well-being of the fire management community and the public we serve, while supporting goals of creating resilient landscapes and safe and effective wildfire response.”  

A total of 44 projects were funded in the Southern Region. The Forest Service will announce a third funding opportunity later this year.

SGSF Policy Director says:

“SGSF is excited to see so many projects funded in the southern region in this second round of CWDG funding. It is no secret that our region leads the nation in number of wildfires annually, and many of our states have the most acres of wildland-urban interface (WUI) putting communities at risk. This CWDG funding enables communities to both develop and implement projects from Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs), helping make our region more fire resilient. We appreciate this strong recognition that wildfire is not just a western issue.”

Senate Press Release | U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Wildfire Caucus, convened the inaugural meeting with Sens. John Boozman (R-AR) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) to discuss some of the recommendations included in the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission’s final report.

The bipartisan Senate Wildfire Caucus:

• Advocates for wildfire-related programs, including funding for disaster relief, prevention and mitigation;
• Shares federal relief programs and resources with communities before, during and after wildfire season; and
• Highlights balanced and bipartisan science-based wildfire management and mitigation proposals in Congress.

SGSF Policy Director says:

“When Congress is deliberating on wildfire and forestry policy, it is critical that all regions and all experiences with fire are represented. We are thankful for the work of the Wildfire Commission in highlighting many of the places federal policy can better support the wildfire and forestry community, and are eager to see how the Senate Wildfire Caucus responds to their recommendations. We encourage Senators from southern states to join the Caucus and ensure the South’s collaborative approach, experience and success tackling wildfire are part of national conversations.”

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SGSF Policy Director Says:

“This past month the House passed their proposal for the FY25 Interior Appropriations bill through the full House, and the Senate passed their version through the Appropriations committee. The House proposal was highly partisan and written to a much lower budget level compared to the bipartisan Senate proposal. A summary of how our priority programs and forest policy in general faired in both bills is outlined below.

Like recent years, the House and Senate are far apart on their appropriations bills on both funding and policy.  This sets the stage for needing a continuing resolution (CR) come September 30 when current funding runs out, which will likely take us until after the November elections.  Both the House and Senate are now on summer recess.

• Compared to FY24, in the Senate we saw increases in SFA ($2M), VFA ($1M) and FSP ($500K) and in the House we saw some increases (SFA, VFA, LSR and FIA), some small cuts (FSP) and some larger cuts (Forest Health and UCF).
• Both bills include 3 Forest Legacy projects from our region in NC, GA and FL
• Compared to FY24, USFS R&D Salaries would see an increase of $9.4M in the Senate, but a $4.2M decrease in the House
• Compared to FY24, USFS SPTF Salaries would see an increase of $10.9M in the Senate, but a $1.0M decrease in the House
• Within hazardous fuels funding, both bills continue funding levels for Wood Innovations Grants and Community Wood Energy, and it also appears the Senate increases the funding level for cross-boundary hazardous fuels work (ie Stevens Money) from $20M to up to 15% of the hazardous fuels appropriation, which would be $31.2M.
• Supporting Federal Wildland Firefighters: Both bills include language establishing a permanent pay fix and job series for federal wildland firefighters and provide full funding to meet these obligations.
• Wildfire Suppression: Both bills fully fund essential wildfire preparedness and suppression efforts, including by providing $2.75 billion is for the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund to be used when major fire activity requires expenditures exceeding regular base suppression operations funding.
• Nurseries – Both bills contain report language recognizing the importance of the Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources (RNGR) program and state partners in maintaining regional seedling supply.
• Air Quality – The House bill directs the EPA to identify ways to reduce the administrative burden on States and Tribes that use the exceptional events rule for prescribed burns.
• Prescribed Fire Strategy – The Senate bill directs the USFS to develop a national strategy for increasing the use of prescribed fire”

State Forester Priority Appropriations Summary Table

Program	FY24 Enacted	FY25 NASF Advocacy Level	FY25 President’s Budget	FY25 House Proposal	FY25 Senate Proposal
State and Private Forestry	$251.31**	NA	$242.5**	$232.00**	$251.57**
Forest Stewardship	$12.00	$22.00	$12.50	$12.00	$12.50
Urban & Community Forestry	$36.00	$42.00	$40.00	$33.00	$36.00
Forest Health–Cooperative Lands	$32.00	$39.42	$33.00	$30.00	$32.00
Forest Legacy Program	$92.26**	$128.00**	$94.22**	$94.26**	$94.26**
Landscape Scale Restoration	$14.00	$20.00	$17.00	$15.00	$14.00
State Fire Capacity Grants*	$76.00	$85.00	$76.00	$78.00	$78.00
Volunteer Fire Capacity Grants*	$21.00	$25.00	$21.00	$23.00	$22.00
Research and Development	$88.00	NA	$94.20	$92.00	$97.70
Forest Inventory & Analysis	$31.50	$32.40	$33.70	$32.00	$33.70