Senator Barbara Boxer, Chair Senator Max Baucus, Chair Senate Environment and Public Works Senate Finance Committee Committee 511 Hart Senate Office Building 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 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 18% 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 Berkshire Natural Resources New Jersey Conservation Land Trust Alliance Council Inc. Foundation The Forestland Group, LLC California Cultural Resources Northwest Connections California Council of Land Trusts Preservation Alliance Pacific Rivers Council National Association of State California Outdoor Heritage Alliance Peconic Land Trust Foresters Chattowah Open Land Trust Pennsylvania Land Trust Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Colorado Conservation Trust Association National Audubon Society Community Alliance with Piedmont Environmental Council Roseburg Forest Products Family Farmers Placer Land Trust Conservation Forestry, LLC Conservation Northwest Sanctuary Forest The Lyme Timber Company Conservation Trust for Seattle Audubon Society Northland Forest Products, Inc. North Carolina Sedgwick Land Company Northwest Natural Resource Edisto Island Open Lands Trust Southern Appalachian Group Environment Northeast Highlands Conservancy The Walker Family Forests Forest Guild Society for the Protection of Cantor CO2e Forest Society of Maine New Hampshire Forests Evolution Markets Futurewise Tall Timbers Research, Inc. Equator Georgia Land Trust The Franklin Land Trust Finite Carbon Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation The Siuslaw Institute, Inc. Land Trust of Arkansas Land Conservancy of Transition Habitat Conservancy Alabama Land Trust San Luis Obispo County Upstate Forever Appalachian Mountain Club Land Trust for Tennessee Ventana Conservation and Applegate Partnership and Lassen Land & Trails Trust Land Trust Watershed Council Marin Agricultural Land Trust Vermont Land Trust Berkshire Environmental Mass Audubon Vermont Natural Resources Council Action Team Mountain Conservation Trust Western Pennsylvania for Georgia Conservancy