U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Forest Service got its marching orders from USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack last month to take bold action to the nation's forests, improve their resilience and address climate change.
Those were the goals Vilsack spelled out in a news release issued June 23, stemming from recorded remarks at the inaugural 1t.org US Chapter Summit, a coalition working to support federal conservation and restoration efforts to encourage nationwide forest growth.
"Globally, forests represent some of the most biodiverse parts of our planet, yet drought and intensifying and catastrophic wildfires are threatening our forests to such a degree that many are not able to regenerate on their own," Vilsack said in the news release. "This is why today I am directing Forest Service Chief Randy Moore and Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Dr. Homer Wilkes to take a series of immediate and near-term actions to build carbon stewardship and climate resilience in our national forests."
Vilsack's directive came in part as a response to President Joe Biden's Executive Order on strengthening the nation's forests, communities and local economies, issued in April. The executive order, among other things, directs USDA to carry out a series of actions pursuing "science-based, sustainable forest and land management," the news release said.
Those actions include "intensifying work to reduce wildfire risk, accelerate reforestation, restore ecosystems, support forest products jobs and markets in rural communities, and define and inventory old-growth and mature forests on federally managed lands," the news release said.
In turn, Vilsack ordered the Forest Service to flag at-risk forests, identify areas at risk or plagued by mismanagement and to propose solutions to better protect the nation's forests.
Vilsack also ordered the Forest Service to undertake more immediate actions. These would include developing plans for increasing safer prescribed fires, foster innovative markets for sustainable forest products, conduct old-growth and mature forests inventories, accelerate reforestation and boosting nursery capacity. The latter would be aimed at growing more tree seedlings for post-fire recovery and other plantings.
Vilsack also put in a word for what healthy forests do for the world's ecosystem.
"America's forests already capture more than 10% of our nation's carbon emissions each year and they have the potential to do more," Vilsack said in the news release. "We must safeguard and restore our forests to ensure they store carbon, rather than release it through catastrophic wildfire."
