[MPWG] Maryland Sustainable Forestry Act & the implication for medicinal plants
Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov
Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov
Fri Jun 5 09:23:18 CDT 2009
This excerpt from Maryland's new Sustainable Forestry Act (see e-mail
below) would indicate that this new Act provides another incentive for
maintaining private, forested lands in a sustainable manner.
"Further, we recognize the importance of working forests and will ensure
that public policies and market-based incentives help families retain and
manage these forests sustainably."
I have some questions for the list:
In Maryland, do Forest Stewardship Plants look beyond the trees and take
medicinal plants and other NTFPs in account?
Do any of you have material that provides insight on the merits of
including NTFPS in forest stewardship plans?
What other states have similar Acts?
Thanks,
-Patricia
Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority
Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group
US Fish & Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 110
Arlington, VA 22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276
Working for the conservation and sustainable use of our green natural
resources.
<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>
----- Forwarded by Patricia De Angelis/ARL/R9/FWS/DOI on 06/05/2009 10:13
AM -----
Don Outen, Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection &
Resource Management, asked that we share the following and attached
information about the recently passed MD Sustainable Forestry Act. Please
feel free to contact Gary G. Allen, Chairman, Maryland Partnership for
Sustainable Forestry at gallenbay at aol.com or Don Outen directly at
douten at baltimorecountymd.gov for additional information.
Best regards,
Meridian Institute
Sarah Walen, Senior Mediator
Shawn Walker, Project Coordinator
ADVANCING A SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY STRATEGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Maryland moves Ahead
Maryland made significant progress in the Bay watershed Region with the
signing of Senate Bill 549 into law on May 7, 2009 - the Sustainable
Forestry Act of 2009, sponsored by Senator Roy Dyson.. This Act is
designed and intended to realize one goal - the retention of
privately-owned forest lands within the State of Maryland consistent with
and responsive to the 2007 Forestry Conservation Initiative signed by the
Chesapeake Bay Council in December 2007.
In short, the cure for the ills plaguing our coveted Chesapeake Bay can be
found in our trees. And Maryland clearly recognizes this fact with the
enactment of the Sustainable Forestry Act of 2009*indeed, an historic Act
which should serve as a model worthy of emulation not only within the Bay
watershed, but from a national perspective as well. As noted by
Maryland*s State Forester - Steve Koehn on February 24, 2009 before the
Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee
- *The eyes of the Nation*s forest community are focused on Maryland. What
you [as lawmakers] do on this bill will resonate throughout the
country...hopefully, you will pass the bill.* With less than 6 hours
remaining in the 2009 Session, the amended Senate bill cleared the House
of Delegates with no changes.
A key argument for moving the bill emanated from the Chesapeake Bay
Council*s issued Directive No. 06-1 entitled, Protecting the Forests of
the Chesapeake Watershed, on September 22, 2006 which reads as
follows:
*Retaining and expanding forests in the Chesapeake Bay watershed is
critical to our success in restoring the Chesapeake Bay. Forests are the
most beneficial land use for protecting water quality, due to their
ability to capture, filter and retain water, as well as absorb pollution
from the air*a reduction in forest area leads to a disproportionate
increase in nitrogen loads to our waterways.*
Then on December 5, 2007, the Chesapeake Bay Council issued *A Call to
Action* by building on its earlier decision to underscore the importance
of promoting sustainable forestry within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Why? The case was made officially clear by the Council on this date:
*Chesapeake forests prevent millions of pounds of nitrogen and other
pollutants from reaching the Bay each year. While trends vary locally,
the watershed has lost 100 acres of forest land per day since the
mid-1980*s. Every acre of forest converted to other uses means more
nutrients entering the Bay, making it more difficult to mitigate
development impacts and resulting in additional loss and fragmentation of
forest habitat. If this forest loss continues, nitrogen loads alone will
increase by 1,300 pounds per day to the Bay. As citizen and governmental
agencies work to implement actions to reduce the flow of nutrients and
sediment from agriculture, developed lands, and watershed treatment
plants, their overall success is threatened by the loss of our watershed*s
greatest natural filter: its forests. In fact, the public will spend
billions of dollars on technological replacements for the services that
forests provide naturally for free - such as drinking water filtration,
flood control, storm water management, energy and greenhouse gas and air
pollution control.
Retaining and expanding forests across the watershed is a cost-effective
strategy for reducing pollution now and maintaining caps on nutrients in
the future. An investment in sustainable forestry will not only help
address water quality issues, but other challenges such as climate change,
sprawl and energy independence.
Therefore, it is our intent to maximize the area of forest by discouraging
conversion of the most valuable forests and giving priority to forest in
land conservation programs. Further, we recognize the importance of
working forests and will ensure that public policies and market-based
incentives help families retain and manage these forests
sustainably.*
Without a healthy, sustainable forest system, it is an indisputable fact
the Chesapeake will never heal as envisioned by the 1998 Water Quality
Improvement Act, the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement, the 2007 Forest
Conservation Initiative, Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund
and the Governor*s Climate Change Commission. Our forests are vanishing
because of development pressures attendant to population growth and poorly
planned sprawl development. And, because 76% of our forests are owned by
private landowners, promotion of sustainable forestry through responsive
public policy must motivate and educate these individuals about the
importance of and implications affiliated with sound land-use decision
making.
What to do?
With its enactment, what does this historic Act actually accomplish?
First, the Act recognizes the environmental and economic importance of
sustainable forestry through a Declaration of Policy, among other things,
to the Chesapeake Bay and rural Maryland consistent with and responsive to
the 1998 Water Quality Improvement Act, Chesapeake 2000 Agreement, the
2007 Forest Conservation Initiative, and the Chesapeake and Atlantic
Coastal Bays 2010 Trust Fund.
Second, the Act promotes outreach to forest landowners to develop and
implement Forest Stewardship Plans - a plan that sets forth land use
objectives consistent with the will of the landowner - through the Forest
Conservancy District Boards [one in each county]. At present, only 1 in 4
forest landowners has adopted such a land-use guiding blueprint.
Third, the Act promotes renewable energy development from woody-biomass
via the existing 10% *green* power goal for the Executive Branch;
long-term Power Purchase Agreements as envisioned by the Governor per his
remarks made at the MACO summer convention in Ocean City; and futuristic
carbon credit, carbon sequestration and cellulosic ethanol development
from a policy-related perspective.
Fourth, the Act promotes sustainable forestry from a local zoning
perspective by encouraging local governments - not mandating local
governments - to be more pro-forestry conscious in their decision-making.
Fifth, the Act speaks throughout about the importance of an Agro-Forestry
alliance consistent and responsive to the findings and recommendations of
the Incentives for Agriculture Task Force (Chapter
289 of the Acts of 2006) via its October 2007 Final Report to the Governor
and the General Assembly.
This is made especially difficult because 76% of Maryland*s 2.4 million
acres of forested lands are owned by private, non-industrial landowners
who can exercise their private property rights to dispose of or management
such lands at will. Development pressure is real.
Compounding these trends is the realization of Maryland*s prevailing
fiscal condition, meaning, millions of additional dollars are not
available to help conserve Maryland*s vanishing forests through
desperately needed financial incentives. In short, Maryland*s forests are
truly at risk and the enacted Sustainable Forestry Act of 2009 will help
mitigate this dilemma through creative strategies today that will produce
measurable dividends to Maryland*s *green infrastructure* tomorrow.
The Partnership for Sustainable Forestry is an alliance of forestry,
business and conservation organizations whose primary objective is to
promote the prudent and sustainable management of Maryland*s rural and
urban forest resources through advocacy, education, awareness and
collaboration*.
Chairman, Maryland Partnership for Sustainable Forestry, Gary G. Allen.
gallenbay at aol.com
__________________________________
Shawn Walker
Project Coordinator | Meridian Institute
1920 L Street NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036, United States
+1.202.354.6450 phone
+1.703.509.2396 mobile
+1.202.354.6441 fax
shawnwalker at merid.org
www.merid.org
_______________________________________________
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