SAF Supports New Bill from Senate Energy and Natural Resources Leadership
September 29, 2021
US Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and John Barrasso (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Committee, Angus King (I-ME), and Roger Marshall (R-KS) introduced S.2836,
America’s Revegetation and Carbon Sequestration (ARCs) Act of 2021. This bipartisan legislation is designed to help restore ecosystems, sequester carbon, and reduce emissions through active forest and rangeland management.
“Our forests – and the professionals who study, manage, and care for them – are some of our nation's most valuable and versatile resources. The Society of American Foresters applauds Senator Manchin and Senator Barrasso for developing a bipartisan bill that embraces forest management and forest products as powerful climate solutions and catalysts for positive change in urban and rural communities across the country. Through supporting and promoting climate-informed, professional management, the ARCs Act invests in the long-term health and resilience of our forests while empowering and inspiring forestry professionals for years to come,”
said Terry Baker, CEO, Society of American Foresters.
What other partner organizations are saying:
“America’s trees and forests are a strategic national resource with vast potential as solutions for climate change, public health, and economic challenges,”
said Christopher Martin, president of the National Association of State Foresters (NASF). “Active management maximizes the carbon benefits of forests and is vital to keeping forested landscapes working for us as carbon sinks, instead of carbon emitters. NASF is encouraged by the introduction of the bipartisan America’s Revegetation and Carbon Sequestration Act and extends its thanks to Senators Manchin and Barrasso for their continued leadership on forestry legislation.”
“We applaud Senators Manchin and Barrasso for introducing the America’s Revegetation and Carbon Sequestration Act, a bipartisan bill to support forest health and resilience and promote natural, forest-based solutions in the face of a changing climate. We are pleased to see Congress addressing critical forest carbon data needs through investments in the US Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA). The bill also supports working forests and forest owners by advancing markets for sustainable wood products like mass timber. Guided by quality data and encouraged by access to healthy markets for forest products, private working forests have no equal in their ability to sequester and store carbon at scale. With the right support, like we see in this bill, there is even greater potential to optimize carbon sequestration and storage,”
said Dave Tenny, President and CEO, National Alliance of Forest Owners.
“The American Forest Foundation applauds Senators Manchin and Barrasso for their efforts in putting forth the bipartisan America’s Revegetation and Carbon Sequestration Act, a bill that would help to tackle the wildfire challenges and our broader climate crisis through the use of forests, including family-owned forests. Family and public forests are a patchwork of ownership across the US, especially in drought-stricken West. In order to address our outsized challenges, we must take an all-lands approach in order to get to scale. We look forward to working with Sens. Manchin and Barrasso on this legislation and our own Rural Forests Market Act to empower our forests as natural climate solutions,”
said Tom Martin, President and CEO of the American Forest Foundation.