Dear Senators Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham:

Our organizations commend your efforts to help shape bi-partisan climate legislation in the U.S.
Senate. As you develop your legislative proposal, we encourage you to include provisions that
will capture the immense potential for U.S. forests to help drive climate solutions. America's
forest landowners and forest products industry can help drive land-based carbon reductions in a
manner that is cost-effective and will create new economic opportunities in the forest sector and
other environmental benefits for society.

We write today to offer our perspectives on three climate policy issues of particular importance
to U.S. forests: carbon offset markets, supplemental incentives for domestic reductions outside of
offset markets, and forest adaptation. America's forests and forest products sequester and store a
remarkable 10% of our country's annual carbon emissions-capacity the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency estimates we could double to 20% with appropriate offset credits and other
incentives for carbon-specific management and conservation. We urge you to ensure that
climate legislation creates robust carbon offset credits and other incentives for the U.S. forest
sector and structures them appropriately to deliver environmental integrity and economic
viability. This includes offset credits and other incentives for improved forest management with
appropriate crediting for harvested wood products.

The recent interagency report, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, helped
remind us that climate change will also exacerbate pests, drought, and other forest stressors. Any
natural resources adaptation response must have forest-specific components that enable federal
and state agencies and private landowners to manage these threats. Addressing forest adaptation
will maintain our forests' carbon sequestration capacity and the flow of ecosystem services-
from clean water and wildlife to forest products-so critical to our economy and security.
We hope you will keep the above recommendations in mind as you continue to shape your
legislative proposal. We look forward to working with you in the future to ensure that America's
forests can help address climate change while strengthening the economy of rural America.

Sincerely,

American Bird Conservancy
American Forest & Paper Association
American Forest Foundation
Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies
Binational Softwood Lumber Council
California Forestry Association
Carbon Verde
Conservation Forestry, LLC
Environmental Defense Fund
Forest Guild
Hardwood Federation
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Maine Forest Service
National Alliance of Forest Owners
National Association of State Foresters
National Association of University Forest Research Programs
National Wildlife Federation
New Forests
Pinchot Institute for Conservation
Plum Creek
Society of American Foresters
The Lyme Timber Company
Trust for Public Land
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
Weyerhaeuser Company