The Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC) recently gathered to discuss priority issues and strategies for western forests. A key component driving the WFLC’s 2012 focus was the release of their new publication, Across the Western Landscape: Priority Issues and Strategies for Western Forests.
The publication is based on a synthesis of each western state and Pacific Island Forest Action Plan, which revealed common issues across the West and strategies for achieving success.
Forest Action Plans, collectively, represent the first-ever collaboratively-developed strategic plan for the nation’s forests. In 2008 Congress tasked U.S. states and territories with crafting assessments of forest resources within their boundaries and developing strategies to address threats and improve forest health. With the completion of these Forest Action Plans in 2010, the WFLC commissioned a review and analysis of the western state and Pacific Island Forest Action Plans. The synthesis revealed detailed findings, trends, issues, and opportunities. Across the Western Landscape: Priority Issues and Strategies for Western Forests focuses on priority outcomes addressing landscape-scale issues, thus guiding us toward conservation, protection, and enhancement of our western forests.
Beth Pendleton, U.S. Forest Service Alaska Regional Forester and Federal Co-lead for the WFLC, commented on the meeting, “the WFLC facilitates rich dialogue with concrete outcomes. If we want to have an impact across the landscape we must bring all partners together, including federal, state, tribal and private landowners.”
On the other end of our western landscape, Nebraska State Forester, Scott Josiah, and State Co-Lead for the WFLC, gave his impression of the gathering, “the discussions among state and federal forestry leaders were productive, open and candid. It is clear that forests and their management across all land ownerships are essential to solve larger economic and environmental challenges.”
You can read Across the Western Landscape and the Five Year Strategic Plan at: www.wflcweb.org