9/24/07

TELL THE GOVERNOR TO SIGN THE CALIFORNIA FOREST LEGACY PROGRAM ACT

A program that helps protect private forests in California from development pressure will sunset at the end of this year unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs the bill renewing the program.

The Forest Legacy Program was established in 2000 to help conserve private forestland by purchasing conservation easements. A bill sponsored by Sen. Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), the California Forest Legacy Program Act of 2007 (SB 701), would keep this important program from disappearing. This bill was passed by the legislature this September. The final vote, on Sept. 14 in the state Senate (on amendments added in the Assembly), was 25 to 14.

The California Forest Legacy Program Act now sits on Schwarzenegger’s desk.

Privately owned forests make up almost half of the forestlands in California. They contribute to healthy watersheds, provide wildlife habitat, help preserve biodiversity, and lessen global warming by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide.

Private forestlands bridge gaps between public parks and preserves, providing habitat and migration corridors that help maintain healthy populations of wildlife.

Unlike public forests, however, private forestlands have few safeguards, and are more subject to development pressures. Between 1992 and 1997 alone, 24,000 acres of California forest were permanently lost to development.

In recent years, real estate development has outstripped all other land uses in causing forestland conversions.

A conservation easement is essentially a covenant limiting the uses to which a property may be put. It becomes part of the property’s deed, so future owners of the land will be subject to its provisions. Conservation easements have long been used to keep forests from turning into vineyards, shopping malls, or subdivisions.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Write to Gov. Schwarzenegger and urge him to sign SB 701, the California Forest Legacy Program Act.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-2841 (phone)
(916) 445-4633 (fax)

The state’s ability to purchase conservation easements from private forestland owners is a valuable tool that must be retained and stengthened. Conservation easements on private land help preserve the state’s forests from being cut into smaller and smaller pieces. SB 701 would help arrest this trend.