BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
(retired by Resolution No. 2004-6)

WHEREAS: biological diversity is the variety of life and its processes, and includes the variety of living organisms, the genetic differences among them, and the relationship between the communities and ecosystems in which they occur; and

WHEREAS: biological diversity is important to sustain the health of ecological systems to provide for the well-being of people, and for its own intrinsic value; and

WHEREAS: NASF member agencies manage large acreages of state-owned forest land and directly influence activities on many million acres of privately-owned forest lands throughout the United States; and

WHEREAS: the nature and extent of the interest and concerns relating to biological diversity will have a profound impact on the forest management activities of NASF member agencies;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED it is the policy of NASF to encourage the maintenance of biological diversity in the forestlands of the United States and its protectorates. To that end, NASF supports the development of national policy relating to biological diversity, and encourages its member agencies to protect and maintain biological diversity in concert with all forest management activities and demands on the forests, including timber production and species silviculture.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NASF maintain an active and vigilant role in the development of national policy on biological diversity and the implications of such policy on NASF member agencies.

Biodiversity Policy Statement