News

The National Association of State Foresters has adopted three positions in support of Endangered Species Act reform, climate change mitigation, and federal tax policy reform. WASHINGTON—The nation’s 59 state and territorial foresters have agreed to back three national policy statements regarding Endangered Species Act (ESA) reform, climate change mitigation, and federal tax policy reform. In [read more]

The National Association of State Foresters has submitted official comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding its proposed rule on the treatment of "critical habitat" as it pertains to Endangered Species Act (ESA) implementation. NASF has a substantial interest in how ESA provisions are applied and what consequences they have on the ground. [read more]

NASF and other members of the Forest-Climate Working Group have joined in support for the Rural Forests Markets Act, introduced by Senators Braun and Stabenow. The bipartisan Rural Forest Markets Act provides a federal loan guarantee to support innovative projects that help small forest owners develop climate solutions and other environmental challenges by adopting sustainable [read more]

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, NASF and a long list of other conservation organizations raised concerns regarding a major change to the Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). In short, the new fiscal year (FY) 2020-2021 RCPP Classic Application for Public Funding (APF) includes implementation guidance that could [read more]

In two letters, the National Association of State Foresters has offered its support for the "Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020," a bipartisan bill that sets out to streamline collaborative wildfire risk reduction projects and accelerate forest management near existing roads, trails, and transmission lines. "Forests across the United States need more active [read more]

WASHINGTON—At their virtual annual meeting today, the nation’s state and territorial foresters elected a new slate of officers to the National Association of State Foresters’ governing executive committee. Joe Fox, state forester of Arkansas, will lead NASF as president in 2021. As the director of the Forestry Division of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Fox [read more]

Today, the National Association of State Foresters expressed its appreciation to Senator John Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, for introducing "Endangered Species Act Amendments of 2020," a bill that would accomplish many of the recommendations found in NASF's 2020 policy statement, "Improving the Effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act." NASF [read more]

The National Association of State Foresters signed onto a letter today in support of the bipartisan REPLANT Act (S. 4357 and H.R. 7843). The bill would allow the USDA Forest Service to address the 8 million acres of national forests in need of reforestation by removing an existing cap on the Reforestation Trust Fund. The [read more]

The 2019-2020 NASF Annual Report highlights the association's many efforts to advance the policy and communications priorities of its membership. In the last 12 months, despite the challenges of COVID-19, NASF has had a number of notable successes: Securing funding for priority programs. This spring, NASF policy efforts contributed to increased or steady funding for [read more]

Today the National Association of State Foresters submitted official comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding their proposed rule to define “habitat” as it pertains to implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NASF supports the first and second sentences of the agencies' proposed habitat definition. However, [read more]