Forest Action Plans

Forests of the West cover about 365 million acres—49% of the nation’s total forested area—and are managed by a diversity of owners. The issues facing western forests—wildfire, invasive species, changing ownership patterns and markets, fragmentation, and climate change—affect all lands and all people.

The Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC), a state and federal partnership, commissioned an analysis of all western Forest Action Plans. The report (available here) contains detailed findings, trends, and opportunities relevant to western and pacific island forests and people. A summary report (available here) seeks to capitalize upon the priority issues, strategies, and landscapes identified.

CONSERVE

Sustain a viable, diverse forest products industry that supports private forest ownership and resource management and restoration on all lands.

Working with Wildland Fire: The condition of our nation’s public and private forest lands is a significant contributor to risks associated with wildfire, particularly in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) where critical infrastructure and resources are at stake. While effective interagency efforts have taken place over the past decades, significant risks remain. Continued efforts to restore and maintain resilient landscapes, promote fire‐adapted communities, and effectively respond to wildfires are needed.

PROTECT

Effectively prepare for, prevent, and respond to wildfire; safeguard communities; and control pests, diseases, and invasive species.

Improving Economic and Forest Health: Working forests produce social benefits and give landowners the ability to protect, conserve, and enhance resource values. Legal and regulatory barriers, lack of financial resources and industry infrastructure, and development pressures often get in the way of sustainable forest management. Opportunities that support active forest management and a diverse forest products industry are critical to western forests, communities, and economies.

ENHANCE

Manage trees and forests in rural and urban environments to sustain and restore our ecological systems, and help to mitigate climate change.

Restoring Resilient Landscapes: Overly‐dense, even-age forests are susceptible to both native and non‐native insect and disease invasions, to extreme weather events, and to catastrophic fire. Impacts to communities, watersheds, airsheds, wildlife habitats, old-growth forests, and recreation areas are of concern across the West, as is the spread of insects, disease, and invasive plants within and across state lines. Interagency and interstate collaboration are critical to restoration and forest health goals

Contact Information

Danielle Okst, Executive Director
dokst@westernforesters.org
Council of Western State Foresters
www.westernforesters.org

Over 175 million acres of forest—close to 23 percent of forestland in the nation—are found in the heavily populated Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States. Increasingly complex issues, forest ownership patterns, and population distribution serve as the backdrop for forest management and conservation in the Northeast and Midwest.

Northeastern and Midwestern states varied in their approaches to developing Forest Action Plans. With the goal of providing a region-wide perspective of these key issues and insight on how states identified goals and actions, the states and the USDA Forest Service have developed two comprehensive analyses of the process. The first report was published in 2011, shortly after the original Forest Action Plans were developed. The second was completed following the 2020 release of states’ comprehensively revised Forest Action Plans.

The 2022 regional summary report considers all 21 plans across the region. Its findings are a natural springboard for regional cross-boundary collaboration among federal, state and local partners. An interactive supplementary web map viewer, Landscape Scale Conservation in the Northeast and Midwest, was also created. It includes multi-state priority areas identified in the state Forest Action Plans, along with national programs, initiatives and other context layers.

Forests account for a large portion of land in the South; in fact, two‐thirds or more of the land area in some southern states are forested. Southern forests are shaped by population growth, urbanization, changing landowner characteristics, and extreme weather and fire events.

As part of their Forest Action Plans (summary document available here), states in the South identified priority issues or areas where they plan to focus forest management strategies and developed various approaches to soliciting stakeholder input to identify priority landscapes.

CONSERVE

Addressing urban forest management, enhancing opportunities for working forests and developing methods to restore forested ecosystems.

It is a priority across the South to conserve working forests in order to maintain the economic, environmental, and social benefits these lands provide. Restoring particular forest types—like longleaf pine— that have been in decline or specific landscape types is essential to maintaining environmental services such as clean, abundant water and wildlife habitat. The vast majority of forest land in the South is under private ownership. States included significant discussion of the impact of changing forest resource markets on the ability or willingness of owners to continue to maintain their lands in forest. They also highlighted changing ownership patterns as a challenge to conserving working forests. Changing landowner values and shifting public perceptions may also present challenges to actively managing forests for both economic and environmental benefit.

PROTECT

Identifying strategies for dealing with forest pests, wildland fire and extreme weather events.

Population growth and urbanization present challenges to maintaining healthy, productive, and resilient forests, while at the same time increasing the demand for forest ecosystem services. Each state and territory in the southern region identified some aspect of urbanization or urban forest management as a priority issue or threat, mentioning the detrimental effects of forest loss and fragmentation and the unique challenges of managing forests in an increasingly urban environment.

ENHANCE

Supporting traditional forest markets while strengthening the value of clean air and water, wildlife habitat, places to recreate and ways to mitigate climate change.

Fire is a critical component for maintaining many types of Southern forests, and people have used fire to manage forests in the South for thousands of years. Excluding fire from these ecosystems can result in increased fire risk and a loss of biodiversity. However, a number of factors make it increasingly difficult to continue to use fire for forest management. As urbanization progresses, people and structures mingle with traditionally forested areas, creating concerns about liability. With urbanization also comes increased air pollution, heightening the importance of smoke management and even preventing prescribed burning in some areas. Finally, public perceptions can spur greater political restrictions on the use of fire. In this way, a number of priority issues combine to make fire management increasingly difficult.

Contact Information

Wib Owen, Executive Director
wib.owen@southernforests.org
Southern Group of State Foresters
www.southernforests.org