Congressional Leaders Get Firsthand Look at Forest Conservation

The nation’s forest birds are in decline, their populations dropping in 65% of states since 1970. Even once-common birds are disappearing. The Wooden Thrush, for instance, has declined by 60 % over that point. Throughout latest excursions with Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-PA), chair of the Home Committee on Agriculture, and Congressman Bruce Westerman (R-AR), chair of the Home Committee on Pure Sources, Audubon workers and companions shared these regarding developments whereas demonstrating how habitat restoration and sustainable working forest administration can assist reverse them. The visits additionally offered a possibility to focus on the important role congressional leaders play in supporting healthy forests, rural economies, and the communities that rely on them. 

In Pennsylvania, Audubon welcomed Chairman Thompson in early July for a tour of a privately owned working forest, providing an on-the-ground have a look at how considerate administration can enhance forest well being and create higher habitat for birds and different wildlife. Becoming a member of the tour had been landowner Dr. Shane Sergent and Audubon-endorsed forester Calvin Norman of Blue Ox Forestry, in addition to Audubon workers and companions from the Pennsylvania Division of Conservation and Pure Sources and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. 

Strolling the property, the group examined practices together with invasive species management and noticed how strategic elimination of decrease shade and underplanting can create more healthy, extra resilient forests. The go to additionally prompted a broader dialog in regards to the challenges and alternatives going through non-public forest landowners, together with the necessity for on-the-ground technical help and viable markets that may assist make sustainable forest administration economically possible. 

Audubon shared with Thompson the significance of proposals like creating a brand new Forest Conservation Easement Program to assist preserve working forests and stop fragmentation, which is included in variations of the Farm Invoice being thought-about in Congress. We additionally highlighted the necessity for the Forest Landowner Support Program (FLSP) to present help to non-public forest homeowners, serving to implement administration practices that profit species depending on wholesome forest construction and regeneration.  

Farther south earlier this month, Audubon welcomed Chairman Westerman to the Little Rock Audubon Middle for a dialog about wholesome forests and their significance to Arkansas. Westerman was joined by Audubon workers and an AR-based board director  to study extra about Audubon’s forestry conservation work and the connection between forest administration, hen habitat, and wholesome communities.  With almost 19 million acres of forests protecting greater than half of Arkansas, forests are an integral a part of the state’s panorama and economic system. 

In the course of the go to, the group mentioned the Chuck-will’s-widow, a declining forest hen that breeds within the woods surrounding the Audubon Middle, offering an area instance of the connection between wholesome forests and hen conservation. The go to offered a possibility to debate how federal conservation coverage can complement the work already going down in Arkansas and throughout the nation.  

As with the Thompson go to, Audubon workers highlighted the potential of FLSP to provide non-public forest landowners entry to the on-the-ground technical and monetary help wanted to actively handle their forests. In a closely forested state like Arkansas, that help may assist landowners undertake practices that enhance forest well being and habitat whereas holding working forests productive and environmentally viable.  

For Audubon, these visits are about greater than sharing the story of declining forest birds. They present a possibility for congressional leaders to see the conservation options already engaged on the bottom and listen to immediately from the individuals placing them into follow. And they’re particularly necessary as Congress considers the way forward for federal non-public land conservation by the Farm Invoice and different laws.   

Continued investments in voluntary, collaborative conservation can assist be certain that America’s forests stay locations the place birds can thrive, and the place landowners, rural economies, and communities can thrive alongside them.