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The Forest Legacy Program was established in the 1990 United States farm bill to protect environmentally important forest lands that are threatened by conversion to nonforest uses. It provides federal funding for conservation easements and fee simple purchases.
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To ascertain and protect environmentally important forest areas that are threatened by conversion to nonforest uses
Development of the nation's forested areas poses an increasing threat to maintaining the integrity of our country's valuable forest lands. Intact forest lands supply timber products, wildlife habitat, soil and watershed protection, aesthetics, and recreational opportunities. However, as these areas are fragmented and disappear, so do the benefits they provide. While local governments commonly guide development away from the most sensitive areas through traditional land use controls (like zoning and performance standards), sometimes these measures are not sufficient to fully protect the forested component of our natural resource base.
The Forest Legacy Program (FLP), a federal program in partnership with states, supports state efforts to protect environmentally sensitive forest lands. Designed to encourage the protection of privately owned forest lands, FLP is an entirely voluntary program. To maximize the public benefits it achieves, the program focuses on the acquisition of partial interests in privately owned forest lands. FLP helps the states develop and carry out their forest conservation plans. It encourages and supports the acquisition of conservation easements, legally binding agreements transferring a negotiated set of property rights from one party to another, without removing the property from private ownership. Most FLP conservation easements restrict development, require sustainable forestry practices, and protect other values.
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The Forest Legacy Program is a partnership between participating States and the USDA Forest Service to identify and protect environmentally important forest land that is threatened by conversion to nonforest uses.
Conservation easements are the primary tool used to achieve this goal. Priority is given to lands that have important scenic or recreational values; riparian areas; fish and wildlife values, including threatened and endangered species; or other ecological values.
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The program helps States and regions identify important forest areas.
When conservation easements are used, the land remains privately owned.
Other tools include full-fee purchase, voluntary deed restrictions, covenants, and agreements.
The program is based on a "willing seller and willing buyer" concept.
State and local partners select priority tracts in cooperation with the Forest Service.
The interests in land may be held by the Federal government, or by the State or a unit of local government if the State chooses to select the State Grant Option as authorized by the 1996 Farm Bill.
When the Federal government holds the easement, State or local units of government agree to administer the lands or interests in lands.
The lands and interests are held in perpetuity. There is no loss of the Federal investment resulting from change of ownership.
Forest Stewardship Plans that meet the landowner's objectives for natural resource management are prepared on all privately owned tracts.
The tracts acquired can remain "working forests" and can forever provide forest resources to meet the needs of the local community and the Nation
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The Federal role The significance of the public benefits of a particular forest ranges from local to national. Larger forests tend to be nationally significant because the values they provide are becoming more rare. Extensive forest areas are often subject to the additional challenge of multiple ownerships and numerous political jurisdictions. Through the Forest Legacy Program, the Federal government helps State and local governments look beyond their political boundaries to identify important forest areas. The Federal government provides oversight, and financial and technical assistance to help protect important forests.
The State role States integrate partner resources to cooperatively protect and maintain a forest land base. The lead agency, usually the State forestry organization, carries out the FLP in the State. Responsibilities include the following:
Collect information to identify and delineate important forest areas that may be selected as Forest Legacy Areas.
Consult with the State Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee to achieve program purposes.
Address land protection and forest management issues.
Conduct land acquisition activities
Integrate policies and incentives to conserve a forest land base.
Hold and administering the lands or interests in land that enter the Forest Legacy Program.
Monitor tracts for program compliance.
The State Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee Role The State Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee is identified in the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act. The committee's consulting and recommending duties for the Forest Legacy Program are identified in the act and the FLP guidelines, and include the following:
Prioritize lands for inclusion in the FLP.
Establish eligibility criteria and recommends Forest Legacy Areas in the Assessment of Need process.
Advise the State lead agency in order to achieve Forest Legacy Program objectives.
The Nongovernmental Organization (Land Trust) Role Nongovernmental organizations, specifically land trusts or similar organizations, have a distinct relationship with the FLP. Because of their compatible interest in protecting land for conservation purposes, land trusts can be a primary contact with landowners to negotiate the purchase of conservation easements and to monitor the conservation easements once they are enrolled in the FLP. Lands acquired by or donated to land trusts may be counted toward the non-Federal cost-share amount of total program costs, provided the interests in lands contribute to the goals of the Forest Legacy Program and the lands are located within a Forest Legacy Area.
The Landowner Role Landowner participation in the FLP is voluntary. A landowner joins the program either by conveying interests in lands to achieve the conservation objectives of the FLP or by purchasing or inheriting land that has already been committed to an FLP conservation easement. The landowner becomes a primary practitioner in maintaining the forest land base by implementing management activities to conserve the values for which the land entered the program.
Forest Legacy complements private, federal and state programs focusing on conservation in two ways. First, FLP directly supports property acquisition. Additionally, FLP supports efforts to acquire donated conservation easements. FLP funded acquisitions serve public purposes identified by participating states and agreed to by the landowner.
On May 18, 2009 US Forest Service chief announced land grants to protect more than 5,000 acres (20 km2) of forest in northern Vermont. The land is going to be conserved with the help of a $1.8 million under the Eden Forest project. [1]
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Participation in Forest Legacy is limited to private forest landowners. To qualify, landowners are required to prepare a multiple resource management plan as part of the conservation easement acquisition. The federal government may fund up to 75% of program costs, with at least 25% coming from private, state or local sources. In addition to gains associated with the sale or donation of property rights, many landowners also benefit from reduced taxes associated with limits placed on land use.
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The USDA Forest Service administers the Forest Legacy Program in cooperation with State Foresters. The state grant option allows states a greater role in implementing the program. FLP also encourages partnerships with local governments and land trusts, recognizing the important contributions landowners, communities and private organizations make to conservation efforts.
In the United States, a conservation easement is a power invested in a qualified land conservation organization called a "land trust", or a governmental entity to constrain, as to a specified land area, the exercise of rights otherwise held by a landowner so as to achieve certain conservation purposes. It is an interest in real property established by agreement between a landowner and land trust or unit of government. The conservation easement "runs with the land", meaning it is applicable to both present and future owners of the land. The grant of conservation easement, as with any real property interest, is part of the chain of title for the property and is normally recorded in local land records.
In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land. The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries. The following examples illustrate some of the range.
Land trusts are nonprofit organizations which own and manage land, and sometimes waters. There are three common types of land trust, distinguished from one another by the ways in which they are legally structured and by the purposes for which they are organized and operated:
The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in both public and private ownership. The program was established on May 18, 1962, by United States Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall.
Conservation development, also known as conservation design, is a controlled-growth land use development that adopts the principle for allowing limited sustainable development while protecting the area's natural environmental features in perpetuity, including preserving open space landscape and vista, protecting farmland or natural habitats for wildlife, and maintaining the character of rural communities. A conservation development is usually defined as a project that dedicates a minimum of 50 percent of the total development parcel as open space. The management and ownership of the land are often formed by the partnership between private land owners, land-use conservation organizations and local government. It is a growing trend in many parts of the country, particularly in the Western United States. In the Eastern United States, conservation design has been promoted by some state and local governments as a technique to help preserve water quality.
Private landowner assistance program (PLAP) is a class of government assistance program available throughout the U.S. for landowners interested in maintaining, developing, improving and protecting wildlife on their property. Each state provides various programs that assist landowners in agriculture, forestry and conserving wildlife habitat. This helps landowners in the practice of good land stewardship and provides multiple benefits to the environment. Some states offer technical assistance which includes:
Woodland Stewards, Inc. is a conservation land trust in the United States whose mission is to assist landowners with land protection efforts. When landowners in the Coos, Grafton or Carroll counties of New Hampshire wish to protect their land, Woodland Stewards can accept the land or conservation easement donation. These methods guarantee that any protective measures remain in effect forever.
Conserving Carolina is a non-profit conservation organization working to preserve water and land resources in Western North Carolina. Conserving Carolina was created in July 2017, from a merger of two previously separate organizations, Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy and Pacolet Area Conservancy. The combined organization maintains a primary office in Hendersonville, North Carolina, and a regional office in Columbus, North Carolina.
The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Traverse City, Michigan. It is an independent organization with its own by-laws, policies, board, staff, and budget. The organization is funded by private donors as well as local, state, and national foundations. The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy has a volunteer Board of Directors and a professional year-round, full-time professional staff.
The Conservation Fund is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a dual charter to pursue environmental preservation and economic development. From 2008–2018, it has placed more than 500,000 acres under conservation management through a program whose goal is to purchase and permanently protect working forests. Since its founding in 1985, the organization has protected land and water in all 50 states, including parks, historic battlefields, and wild areas. The Fund works with community and government leaders, businesses, landowners, conservation nonprofits and other partners to integrate economic and environmental objectives.
Joshua's Tract Conservation and Historic Trust, or Joshua's Trust, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) land trust operating in northeast Connecticut. Joshua's Trust was incorporated in 1966 to help conserve property of significant natural or historic interest. As of 2011, the Trust protects more than 5,000 acres, maintains 42 miles of trails that are open to the public, holds educational outreach programs, and publishes the Joshua's Tract Walkbook.
The Sanctuary Forest is a non-profit conservation land trust in the Mattole River headwaters on the northern California coast. Established in 1987, as a community effort, its goal was to preserve a 2000-year-old redwood named “Big Red." The area also contains spawning grounds for Chinook salmon and steelhead in a tributary of the river.
Operating as a nonprofit environmental land trust, The Vital Ground Foundation protects and restores North America's grizzly bear populations by conserving wildlife habitat. Founded in 1990, Vital Ground operates in the belief that the grizzly bear, an umbrella species, is nature's barometer of a healthy and complete ecosystem, and that conserving grizzly bears and their habitat is key to ensuring diverse and healthy landscapes.
The Land Trust for Tennessee is an non-profit conservation organization working to protect Tennessee's natural, scenic, and historic landscapes and sites. Since 1999, The Land Trust has conserved more than 135,000 acres (550 km2) of land across 65-plus Tennessee counties.
Pacific Forest Trust is an accredited non-profit conservation land trust that advances forest conservation and stewardship solutions. Its mission is to sustain America's forests for their public benefits of wood, water, wildlife, and people's wellbeing, in cooperation with landowners and communities.
The Big Sur Land Trust is a private 501(c)(3) non-profit located in Monterey, California, that has played an instrumental role in preserving land in California's Big Sur and Central Coast regions. The trust was the first to conceive of and use the "conservation buyer" method in 1989 by partnering with government and developers to offer tax benefits as an inducement to sell land at below-market rates. Since 1978, with the support of donors, funders and partners, it has conserved over 40,000 acres through conservation easements, acquisition and transfer of land to state, county and city agencies. It has placed conservation easements on 7,000 acres and has retained ownership of over 4,000 acres.
Conservation banking is an environmental market-based method designed to offset adverse effects, generally, to species of concern, are threatened, or endangered and protected under the United States Endangered Species Act (ESA) through the creation of conservation banks. Conservation banking can be viewed as a method of mitigation that allows permitting agencies to target various natural resources typically of value or concern, and it is generally contemplated as a protection technique to be implemented before the valued resource or species will need to be mitigated. The ESA prohibits the "taking" of fish and wildlife species which are officially listed as endangered or threatened in their populations. However, under section 7(a)(2) for Federal Agencies, and under section 10(a) for private parties, a take may be permissible for unavoidable impacts if there are conservation mitigation measures for the affected species or habitat. Purchasing “credits” through a conservation bank is one such mitigation measure to remedy the loss.
The Deschutes Land Trust is a private charitable conservation organization focused on preserving natural landscapes and rivers in the Deschutes River Basin in Oregon, US. The Trust was formed in 1995, and since then has grown to conserve more than 7,000 hectares of land in over 17 preserves.
In 2010, Australia formulated a strategy for conserving land under the National Reserve System, which would be "a national network of public, Indigenous and private protected areas over land and inland water". States, territories and the commonwealth have enacted legislation to create and protect private lands "in perpetuity". Additionally, they have created mechanisms to fund the conservation of biodiversity in the shorter term. See for example, The Two Rivers Catchment Reserve.
