Senator Barbara Boxer, Chair
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Max Baucus, Chair
Senate Finance Committee
511 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Blanche Lincoln, Chair
Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee
355 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Conservation Easement Funding in Senate Climate Legislation

Dear Senators Boxer, Baucus, and Lincoln:

We write to urge you to address the loss of domestic forest, farm and ranchlands in the upcoming Senate climate legislation. Our nation's natural and working lands play a critical role in the fight against climate change, offsetting nearly 15% of all U.S. emissions and offering an important source of clean, renewable, biomass energy. However, the loss of these lands sacrifices their continued ability to provide these crucial climate services, and destroys the foundation of sustainable, rural jobs. We urge you to protect this invaluable resource by supporting provisions for the domestic conservation of natural and working lands in the upcoming Senate climate legislation.

The United States currently is losing more than 2.2 million acres of forest, farm and ranchland to conversion and development annually, and is projected to lose up to 75 million acres of forests alone over the next half century. The conversion of these rural lands will result not only in the loss of current carbon stocks and future sequestration, but also will sacrifice a vast resource that countless Americans are dependent upon for their jobs and livelihoods. While the recent climate legislation passed by the House, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454), recognizes the importance of preventing deforestation and conversion abroad, it does not provide specific provisions to prevent the loss of natural and working lands here at home. To stem the loss of these lands, federal climate legislation must provide explicit incentives for domestic conservation.

This problem can be addressed through the inclusion of funding for domestic conservation easements in the upcoming Senate climate bill. Conservation easements are a proven tool to protect domestic lands in perpetuity, paying landowners to forgo development and retain lands under family ownership as a working landscape. Using this voluntary tool, landowners have teamed with conservation groups to protect more than 9 million acres of private farm, forest and ranchlands across the United States, and have worked with public agencies to conserve millions more. These easements could be funded by simply allocating emission allowances in the Senate climate bill at a level equivalent to our investment in preventing international deforestation in H.R. 2454 (§781(a) and Part E). Providing funding for domestic conservation easements would assist landowners who are willing to conserve their property, but otherwise could not afford to do so and would be forced to convert and develop their land.

Preventing domestic deforestation and the conversion of other working and natural lands is a major opportunity that must be addressed in current climate legislation. Doing so will allow the conservation of private lands to better compete with development pressures, protecting both natural and working lands for their climate and conservation values. As the Senate drafts its version of federal climate legislation, we urge you to allocate a portion of emissions allowances to fund domestic conservation easements.

Thank you very much for your support,

The Pacific Forest Trust
Land Trust Alliance
California Council of Land Trusts
National Association of State Foresters
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Roseburg Forest Products
Conservation Forestry, LLC
The Lyme Timber Company
Northland Forest Products, Inc.
The Walker Family Forests
Cantor CO2e
Equator
Finite Carbon
Alabama Land Trust
Berkshire Environmental Action Team
Berkshire Natural Resources Council Inc.
California Cultural Resources Preservation Alliance
Chattowah Open Land Trust
Colorado Conservation Trust
Conservation Northwest
Conservation Trust for North Carolina
Edisto Island Open Lands Trust
Environment Northeast
Forest Guild
Forest Society of Maine
Georgia Land Trust
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation
Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County
Land Trust for Tennessee
Lassen Land & Trails Trust
Marin Agricultural Land Trust
Mass Audubon
Mountain Conservation Trust for Georgia
New Jersey Conservation Foundation
Peconic Land Trust
Placer Land Trust
Sanctuary Forest
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
Tall Timbers Research, Inc.
The Franklin Land Trust
Transition Habitat Conservancy
Upstate Forever
Ventana Conservation and Land Trust
Vermont Land Trust
Vermont Natural Resources Council
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy