forestguild.org - Conservation Lands

Conservation Lands

One of the most important issues in forestry today is land conservation—keeping forest as forest. The Guild is actively engaged in land conservation through (1) Guild members' work on establishing conservation easements, (2) supporting conservation groups in their management of their lands, and (3) advocating for working forest conservation easements that protect forests and sustain communities. The excellent forestry practiced by Forest Guild members is well suited to the management and restoration of forests reserved for wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, watershed protection, or other non-commercial purposes.

Current policy efforts at the Guild include:

Working Forest Conservation Easements
The Guild promotes the use of working forest conservation easements as a tool to protect the working forestland base and require appropriate assurances of excellent forest practices. Read the Guild's publication on working forest conservation easements here.

Climate Change
The protection of forests is a key element in mitigating the negative impacts of climate changes. Land conversion and forest fragmentation reduce both the ability of forests to store carbon and their resilience to climate change. Read more on our climate change and carbon webpage.

[ Back ]

Forest Wisdom Issue 18

For biomass to be a part of our nation's renewable energy future, issues of ecological sustainability and carbon impacts need to be understood and accounted for. As this edition of Forest Wisdom demonstrates through articles on landowners experience and use of the Guild's Northeast sustainable biomass retention and harvesting guidelines, using biomass for energy presents a suite of complex technical and social issues. Read it here.