Forestry
Forestry Solutions
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Forests provide critical ecosystem services essential to human life and a high standard of living. Ensuring they are sustainably managed will assist with clean water and air, forest products, fish and wildlife habitat, scenic beauty, recreational opportunity, and carbon sequestration.
Regional Strategy
Forests, like farms, absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide into ecosystems. But forests, too, are under stress due to climate change, invasive plants, species imbalance and the impacts of storms and droughts. There is a need for much more active management of – and investment in – existing forests. There is also a need for well-conceived creation of new tree cover and bringing more nature into our population centers in order to make neighborhoods less vulnerable to floods, extreme weather and other climate stresses.
The New York Forest Action Plan is a ten year framework for achieving these goals. With leadership from stewardship organizations like Winnakee Land Trust, forest managers and land protection organizations are increasing their work together to fund more active management of existing forests and establish more systematic ways to create new forests that are planned and maintained to thrive.
Municipalities should take all these aspects of forest management seriously in land use planning. Organizations working to promote sustainable forestry should coordinate the marketing of their services to help clients – especially those working on creating new forests – to understand the issues and the services available. Assistance organizations working with farms, and with forests, should increase coordination so that landowners are encouraged to think about better ways for farms and forests to coexist. Organizations working on afforestation and urban forestry, including supply chain for healthy native plants, should coordinate regionally to build capacity and workforce.
This Coalition will create a Land and Water Resource Network to stay on top of emerging issues and opportunities to support sustainable and regenerative forestry.
Who Cares? A Partial List of Stakeholders:
Catskill Forest Association
Watershed Agricultural Council Forestry Program, My Woodlot
WAC Model Forest Program
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