Dave Tenny, President and CEO of NAFO, is attending the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors on Friday, April 16, 2010. Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, and Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture are leading the conference, “which will address the challenges, opportunities and innovations surrounding modern-day land conservation and the importance of reconnecting Americans and American families to the outdoors.”
NAFO was invited to participate because America’s private forests are a cornerstone for America’s outdoors. 57 percent of America’s forests are privately owned. Private working forests are a vital part of America’s natural resources infrastructure, contributing significantly to the quality of life enjoyed by all Americans. Sustaining and enhancing the value of these forests – both to society and to forest owners – is of vital national importance and essential to meet some of our nation’s most pressing needs, including consumer products, renewable energy, addressing greenhouse gas emissions, a healthy environment, and jobs in rural communities.
As the Obama Administration addresses “modern-day land conservation,” they must include the role of private, working forests. NAFO is helping to lead the Keep Working Forests Working coalition, a group encompassing broad interests united around the value of working forests and how to conserve them, including:
- Strengthen existing and emerging markets for the goods and services working forests can provide.
- Support and align public and private investments, partnerships and policies to maintain working forest landscapes.
- Align government policies to support the long-term viability of working forests.
To learn more about the positive contributions of private, working forests, read:
NAFO’s Working Forests Policy Issue Brief
The Mitigation Benefits of Working Forests
NAFO’s Sustainability Advocacy Position
The Economic Impact of Private Forests
Tags: Working Forests
