Excerpt from an article in E&E News by Eric Bontrager (subscription required):

Despite the finger-pointing at climate change as the culprit behind increased wildfires, there is no mandate for a new forest management policy while mitigating GHG emissions. The bill calls for forestry and agricultural offsets intended to keep carbon dioxide contained and includes billions in funding for adaptation, but critics say more could be done.

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) said he plans to introduce a large forestry amendment later today that will push to manage forests as a climate resource. Any bill that ignores forestry issues is nothing more than a "political expression," Craig told E&E Daily.

Craig said that he would also push to strike a provision that allows for investment in forest carbon activities outside the United States. "If we're going to be investing money in forests, it should be in the U.S.," Craig said.

Jay Farrell, executive director of the National Association of State Foresters, said the bill should take greater steps to consider the contribution forests and grasslands have on mitigating the effects of climate change.

"This expanded consideration is critical to sustaining the broader ecosystem services and products our society expects from our nation's forests and all natural resources that will continue to be impacted by climate change," he said.

NASF sent a letter to Senate leadership yesterday recommending a more expansive recognition of forest ecosystems and acknowledgement of range and grassland resources in the bill. Read the letter in the Publications section under the letters tab.