State and Private Forestry Contributions

1
State and Private Forestry Contributions

• Healthy Forests and Grasslands
• Recreation
• Water

2
Outline

• Current SPF Alignment with the Regional Emphasis
  Areas (highlights)
• Budget Alignment for FY09
• Opportunities for FY09

3
Current Alignment Healthy Forests and Grasslands

• Work with States to restore and maintain healthy
  and diverse forests on privately owned land and
  in communities (Forest Stewardship Program Urban
  Community Forestry)
• Restore forest and rangeland health and
  resilience through hazardous fuel reductions and
  wildfire management (Fuels Program
  Watershed/Vegetation Restoration Plan Community
  Wildfire Protection Plans Cooperative Fire
  Programs Appropriate Management Response Wood
  to Energy projects)

4
Current Alignment Healthy Forests and
Grasslands, Cont.

• Work to reduce forest conversion and
  fragmentation (Forest Legacy Program Open Space
  Strategy leadership)
• Work with States to reduce impacts from invasive
  species on private land (Great Plains Invasive
  Species Project)
• Strive for integrated, collaborative priority
  setting and decision making (Tribal Relations
  Forestry Governance Council)

5
Current Alignment Healthy Forests and
Grasslands, Cont.

• Work to reduce air pollution that
• contributes to climate change
• causes injury and damage to vegetation
• increases susceptibility to disease, pests, and
  environmental stresses
• decreases growth, reproduction and yields of
  vegetation.
• (Air quality program)

6
Current Alignment Water

• Work with States, landowners, and communities to
  manage forests in important watersheds
• Encourage and fund state forestry programs or
  projects that provide targeted assistance to
  landowners in important watersheds (Forest
  Stewardship Program)
• Work with tribes who own important watersheds and
  are adjacent to NFS (Tribal Relations)
• Facilitate the restoration and stewardship of
  riparian forests on private land and in
  communities (Forest Stewardship Urban
  Community Forestry)

7
Current Alignment Water, cont.

• Protect and restore watersheds through hazardous
  fuel reductions and wildland fire management.
  (Fuels Program Watershed/Vegetation Restoration
  Plan Appropriate Management Response)
• Work to reduce air pollution that affects
  watershed health and water quality. (Air quality
  program)

8
Current Alignment Recreation

• Help provide high quality recreation experiences
• Work to reduce air pollution that contributes to
  climate change, decreases visibility of scenic
  vistas, causes increased mercury levels in fish,
  and affects visitors respiratory health. (Air
  quality program)
• Work to protect the setting and provide access
  (Wildland Fire Management Fuels Program Forest
  Legacy projects)

9
Current Alignment Recreation, Cont.

• Provide Tribal relations training to reduce and
  manage conflicts (Indian Law Course)
• Cultivate new and diverse generation of users
  through partnerships and conservation
  education projects (Denver March Pow Wow WY
  Conservation Education project)

10
Budget Alignment in fy09

• SPF contributes to all 3 emphasis areas
• Most programs and projects provide benefits to
  all three areas simultaneously
• SPF emphases found in all 3 areas equally in
  fy08.
• In fy08, will work towards further integration of
  programs and benefits across the landscape (AWRP
  BOD)

11
Opportunities for FY09

• Statewide Forest Resource Assessments
• Each State will assess the current health of
  their forests, analyze threats and opportunities,
  and identify priority areas for focused SPF
  investments
• Integrated Competitive Grants to States
• New multi-program competitive grants to States
  (15 of total SPF allocation) will help promote
  forest health and watershed management across the
  landscape
• Tradeoff Reduces funds available for full-time
  program State staff
• Opportunity Work with State Foresters in Joint
  Project Planning

12
Opportunities for FY09, cont.

• Open Space Strategy Implementation
• Will work with each State to assess and pursue
  partnership opportunities for land conservation
  to help reduce the effects of conversion and
  fragmentation on forest and grassland health,
  water, and recreation.
• New Market Opportunities
• Will explore carbon, water, and biomass energy
  market opportunities that may provide added
  incentives for private landowners to manage their
  forests and grasslands for health, water, and
  recreation.

13
Opportunities for FY09, cont.

• Increased integration and delivery of vegetation
  management program treatment priorities
• Fuels and Timber Sale program priorities are not
  fully aligned regionally (AWRP BOD work)
• Will pursue opportunities to leverage additional
  funding
• Tradeoff Program integration to address
  Mountain Pine Beetle and Other insect and disease
  issues has the potential to draw emphasis away
  from the Wildland Urban Interface areas to
  salvage economic value in the Non-WUI areas.
  This has the potential to alienate interested
  publics.

14
Opportunities for FY09, cont.

• Consistent and Comparable modeling protocol for
  Air Quality Analyses
• Will work towards agreement among Federal Land
  Managers, States, and EPA on a protocol for air
  quality modeling analyses to mitigate air quality
  impacts on forest health, water, and recreation.
• Community Air Quality Modeling Center
• Will work towards a multi-agency regional air
  quality modeling system for Federal Land
  Managers, States, and industry. Benefits include
  streamlined modeling of projects, cost
  efficiencies, reduced workloads, reduced risk of
  noncompliance with NEPA and regulations, and
  meaningful consistent mitigation.