PPRC Position Paper on Forest Management
The PPRC supports measures to better manage our forests to increase resilience and growth in the wake of fires, hurricanes, disease, insects, and natural disasters.
- Executive order 14072, signed April 2022, is designed to protect mature and old growth forests. However, the executive order needs a responsible management and conservation strategy that addresses threats from extreme heat, drought, and catastrophic wildfires.
- Federally owned forests are severely overgrown and prone to larger wildfires which endanger lives, destroy homes, and ruin communities. Working forests and sustainable forest management have a critical role in maintaining or increasing carbon stocks, reducing fuel loadings that can lead to wildfires, and mitigating risk of disease and infestations in forests.
- The PPRC will support legislation to help fund fire suppression, forest inventory, and sustainable forest management, while considering the small window of opportunity to salvage fiber after a disastrous event.
- Our industry utilizes sustainable forest management practices. Forests are essential to our outdoor activities such as camping, hunting, and fishing. Forests also sequester carbon, and this is where we find our renewable natural resources that support family wage jobs and local businesses. We encourage recognition of the extensive carbon benefits of the US pulp and paper industry, including the use of manufacturing residuals for biomass energy.
- The health of our federal forests impacts not only the lands directly, but also neighboring non-federal lands and wildlife populations.
- The PPRC supports creating incentives to encourage forest management and responsible harvesting to continue improving the health of our nation’s forests. Planting trees must be recognized as a crucial role in the paper and forest products industry.
