GEO-6 Regional Assessment for North America
incentives programme into EQIP, and requires that at least 5 per cent of EQIP funding be targeted on practices benefitting wildlife habitat.
•
The bill continues to fund the Conservation Stewardship Programme, to help producers who meet stewardship requirements on agricultural and forestlands. Annual enrolment is capped at 4 million hectares, down from 5.2 million hectares for the previous five years.
• The bill created two major research initiatives affecting farms and forests: 1. The Forestry Products
Advanced Utilization
Research Initiative, authorized at USD 7 million per year, for improving wood quality, creating new products and renewable energy, for improving the management of timberlands (forests where wood harvesting occurs), and creating “green products” from forest products, such as multi-story buildings using new laminated wood structural members.
2. The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, authorized at USD 200 million the first year, was created. The Foundation will coordinate projects across public and private institutions, and seek additional
corporations, charitable foundations, and other sources. The public will benefit from long-term studies, multi-disciplinary teams, and specialized research facilities.
Improved forest certification standards The
American Forest Foundation released improved
“Standards of Sustainability for Forest Certification” on 6 January 2015. The improvements were the result of a rigorous, multi-stakeholder process and based on international guidelines for sustainable forest management and conservation. Major revisions included expanding best management practices to encompass water, air, and soil and clarifying the management needed to protect threatened and
endangered species and importance (ATFS 2016). forests of recognized
The American Forest Foundation operates the American Tree Farm System (ATFS), a programme to keep family- owned forests well-managed, and provide clean water and air, wildlife habitat, wood products, and recreational opportunities. AFTS is the largest certified programme for family-owned forests in the world (ATFS 2016).
New planning rule for national forests
The US Forest Service adopted a new planning rule (regulation) for national forests on April 9, 2012. The new regulation
shifted the focus of planning to ecological matching funds from individuals,
sustainability and placed strong emphasis on using science to understand the links between management activities and outcomes for forest health and productivity. The new rule, replacing a 30-year old regulation, was designed to enable flexible, rapid, and effective responses to a range of increasing challenges (USDA 2012). The new rule provides a planning framework that provides a more efficient and adaptive process for land management planning, allowing national forest managers to respond to changing conditions more easily. It has provisions to maintain and restore ecosystem services, to provide for multiple uses, and to provide for public involvement in planning.
The new rule was not greeted with uniform praise. Although some major non-governmental organizations welcomed the new rule, a number of interest groups brought lawsuits seeking to suspend implementation or completely overturn the new rule. But so far, the new 2012 rule has withstood legal challenges.
Approaches to counteract land fragmentation
Governance responsibilities regarding land use in the US and Canada are primarily a responsibility of local governments (counties, cities, towns), provincial, territorial, or state legislatures or agencies, or tribal or First Nations governments. The federal governments play smaller and more indirect roles. In the US, federal roles include, adjusting federal tax policies to encourage better management, setting water or air quality standards, and providing funding for technical assistance and financial incentives.
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