Tree Farming
Private Forests, Public Benefits The
USDA Forest Service released a report showing that privately held
forests in the U.S. are under substantial stress from development and
fragmentation and that increased housing density in forests will
exacerbate other threats to forests from wildfire, insects, pathogens
and pollution. These threats to the important goods and services
provided by privately owned forests, which make up 56 percent of all
forested lands, emphasize the importance of the collaborative,
cross-boundary approach to conserving and restoring our forests. The report is quite long but is downloadable in 3 sections. Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Private Forest Benefits and Housing Density Increases Part 3: Additional PressuresThe Economic Impact of Privately-Owned Forests Prepared for the National Alliance of Forest Owners, by Forest2Market Inc., September 8, 2009 Shows that private forestlands have a greater overall economic impact than public lands at the local, state, and national level. Wildlife in Managed Forests The Oregon Forest Resources
Institute has created a series of publications on what is known about
habitat requirements and ecological roles of various wildlife species
in the Pacific Northwest. Three publications are now available: Elk, Northern Spotted Owl, and Stream-Associated Amphibians. To view all of the publications from OFRI, visit their web site at oregonforests.org. American Forest Foundation featured on "Inside Business" on Fox Business Network A 5 minute video featuring American Forest Foundation Vice-President
Bob Simpson and 2000 Western Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year, the
Hanschu's of Oregon, were featured in an independently produced
television program hosted by former Senator Fred Thompson. This
segment highlights how private landowners are critical to conserving
our nation's forests, and how woodland owners play a role in a natural
strategy for climate change. It was aired nationally in early April, but you can watch it on YouTube.
Are Family Forest Owners Facing a Future Which Forest Management Is Not Enough? by A.W. D'Amato, P.F. Catanzaro, D.T. Damery, D.B. Kittredge, and K.A. Ferrare, Journal of Forestry, Jan/Feb. 2010 The
processes of forest conversion, fragmentation, and parcelization are
drastically impeding the ability of family forest owners to manage
their lands and maintain the benefits they provide. One factor
suggested as driving this trend is the inability of landowners to meet
the property tax burden on their land. The Future of the Nation's Forests Testimony of Clint Bentz on behalf of the Oregon Tree Farm System and
the American Forest Foundation before the House Agriculture Committee,
Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry, June 2009. Bentz,
a former National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year, addresses why
forests matter, development pressures on family forest owners, climate
change and forest health, declining traditional markets, and the aging
population of forest owners.Washington State Forestland Database Beginning with the passage of Washington State House Bill 2091,
otherwise known as the Salmon Recovery Act (1998), the State has had an
interest in quantifying the numbers, acres and other characteristics of
small forest landowners (SFLO) and their lands. The Washington State
Forestland Database was developed to provide a comprehensive platform
for understanding the spatial characteristics of all private forestland
ownership in the state, including family forests. The Washington State Forestland Database combines land ownership, land
use and assessment information with physical characteristics of the
land to develop economic, social and environmental metrics about the
forest land base. The spatially‐explicit information in the database
allows for analysis at the watershed, county and state level. This
high‐resolution dataset can produce maps, statistics and models at
multiple scales. Over time it will become a comprehensive platform for
understanding how forest land ownership and land use is changing,
thereby enabling new science and research to inform public policy
analysis, debate and action.
Three
primary products were developed: the Washington State Forestland
Database, statistics on the numbers and acres of forestland parcels and
maps of the distribution and extent of private forestlands. Statistics
derived from the Database reveal that 215 thousand small forest
landowners own 5.7 million acres of forestland, half of the 11.6
million acres of private forestland in the state. Over 89 thousand of
those small forest landowners have ownerships greater than 10 acres and
55 thousand own more than 20 acres. The maps of the distribution of
forestlands in the State of Washington show that small forest landowner
properties, often adjacent to suburban and exurban lands, provide a
critical buffer between upland industrial forestlands and lowland
residential areas.
Updated: August 31, 2010
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