Model Forest Policy Program

The Issue

The reality of climate change is no longer up for debate and there is clear evidence that the dramatic rise in carbon dioxide is linked to increased intensity of storms, floods, sea level rise, drought/water shortages, heat waves, spreading diseases, melting glaciers, wildfires, and species decline. Across America, public awareness is moving rapidly from denial to recognition of our vulnerability. The May 2007 assessment of The International Panel on Climate Change identifies a 10-year window of opportunity to head off irreversible impacts.

The forests of the United States play a vital role in both the problem and solution of global warming. Fossil fuel use causes the highest levels of green house gases, followed by deforestation. Deforestation has caused 25% of current CO2 levels with 1.6 billion tons of CO2 released each year. [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001].

But forests also serve vital functions of sequestering carbon dioxide, and protecting water resources by regulating rain runoff, filtering impurities, and retaining ground water. Two thirds of the U.S. water supply comes from forests. In the U.S., according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, “forests and land-use measures have the potential to reduce carbon emissions by the equivalent of 10-20% of projected fossil fuel emissions through 2050.” However, temperature increases threaten forestlands with dry soils, fires, insect damage, and changes in hydrologic function and reductions in base flows that will impact downstream communities. Other already existing forest threats include rampant forestland conversion through development and urban sprawl, poor logging practices, and weak government policy. Current land use development statistics show an alarming rate of forest loss. Nationally, the U.S. Forest Service estimates that roughly 1.5 million acres of forests are currently lost to development and conversion each year.

In the absence of federal action, to date, 1000 cities and 36 counties signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to create a local Climate Action Plan. Every possible avenue for climate change mitigation and adaptation must be fully utilized to achieve meaningful results in a very short time frame.

In spite of these promising early local government efforts, progress is often slow in communities, which have yet to mobilize into action. They lack regional models to follow, they lack resources, and they often lack local champions to push the process to fruition. Furthermore, among those cities that are moving forward, their focus is largely limited to energy or transportation programs. Although important, those programs alone are not sufficient to turn the tide on climate change in the rapidly closing window of time left to avert disaster.

All too frequently, extensive forest preservation strategies are being left out of most community climate action plans. As local governments develop their climate action plans, community engagement is needed to energize citizens and local officials to recognize how sound policy and land use planning can foster forest protection and contribute to healthy, functioning watershed ecosystems in the face of climate change. MFPP is providing policy and education tools to incorporate forest stewardship into local climate action plans.

There are important and urgent contributions that the Model Forest Policy Program [MFPP] is providing that can help overcome the obstacles, recruit more city/county action planning, and increase the effectiveness of those plans.

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