As part of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, the Administration held a youth-focused listening session in Orlando, Florida, on August 26. 

A Project Learning Tree representative attended the session to speak up about the role environmental education should play in the initiative to connect youth to the Great Outdoors.  Mark Miller, an enthusiastic PLT Facilitator from Apopka, FL shared some of his feedback from the session:

It was interesting that even the youth report addressed how much students want to do more outside activities - both on a recreational and educational front. From soccer for school credit, to more PE, or providing more field trips to nature centers, parks or trails. Everyone shared some basic fundamental ideas to stimulate outdoor opportunities for students.  

I believe - to do this, involvement must start from the top and be administrated downward - but to provide that key element in reaching students it must start from the bottom up…

In response to the challenges and obstacles involved with connecting kids to the outdoors, Mark stressed the need for “greater partnerships, grants and required direction for getting kids outdoor like the passage of No Child Left Inside Act.”

What Works toward conservation, recreation and reconnect people to the outdoor?  “Grants,” Mark said.  “I mentioned two—our recent planting of over 325 trees to rebuild an Pine Upland Community, and  and several years back we had the opportunity to have 6 students for a whole summer explore the many different environmental careers. Curriculums like PLT and many others can offer that opportunity.

In the discussion about the role of the federal government, Mark shared, “education was a big discussion, partnerships and advertising” to raise awareness about environmental problems.  “And again, passing programs like No Child Left Inside.

Putting it all together, Mark stressed:

It keeps coming back to the concept of providing the right education and getting the requirement into the system to promote outdoor usage and connections!

Project Learning Tree offers one of the original curriculums that can promote many facets of Outdoor and EE Connections. It truly can be the ‘window to the world.’

Yesterday, Secretary Vilsack released the USDA report, Private Forests, Public Benefits, that brings attention to the additional stress that our privately owned forests are facing from development, fragmentation and increased housing density. This is important to know since 56 percent of America’s forestland is privately owned by individuals and families.

America’s private landowners are key stewards of our forests, but costs for conserving and maintaining their forests can be high. These forestlands provide us with a wealth of goods and services - clean water, clean air, abundant forest products, wildlife habitat, open spaces, and opportunities for outdoor recreation and education. Private forest contributions to these goods and services can be affected by increased housing density also increasing other threats such as wildfires, insects, and pollution.

Some of the report’s key findings include:

• Housing density will increase on more than 57 million acres of America’s private forests between 2000 and 2030.

• Up to 75 percent of the private forests in many regions are predicted to experience a substantial increase in housing density.

• Private forests that play a critical role in supplying our nation with clean water resources, and the timber we need to build homes and communities across the country will be threatened.

• A number of species including the already-endangered Florida panther and the grizzly bear are also expected to be put at risk because of loss of forestland.

The study also identifies areas where other threats to forests - like fire, pollution and disease - will be made much worse as a result of forest loss.  Secretary Vilsack wants USDA, the U.S. Forest Service, and national, state and local partners to take an “all hands” approach to address these threats regardless of whether the forests are publicly or privately owned.

It’s important for each of us to understand the benefits that forests provide us in our daily lives - whether we live in an urban, suburban, or rural community. It’s in our best interest to recognize these benefits and heighten the awareness that we all have an investment in making sure our forestland is conserved now and for future generations.

Hubbard is the U.S. Forest Service, Deputy Chief, State and Private Forestry

Secretary Vilsack: “Government policies must make it easier for landowners to continue to maintain their forests as forests.”

I was proud to join Senator Dianne Feinstein (D- CA) in introducing bipartisan legislation to help rural families hold on to their lands – working lands that are vital to the economic well-being of rural communities and that provide benefits to all Americans from coast to coast.

The Family Farm Estate Tax Deferral Act of 2010, S. 3664, will help preserve forest land by helping families avoid the pressure of selling to pay taxes when land is passed down from one generation to the next. Heirs shouldn’t be burdened by an excessive tax that diminishes the value of working forests.

This American tradition – of passing on family forest land to the next generation – is under threat like never before. Because so many families are “land rich and cash poor,” getting socked with inheritance taxes is the final straw for many families who have tried desperately to keep developers and auctioneers at bay.

Most of America’s forests and woodlands are privately owned – with 62 percent of  this private land owned by family forest owners. While Idaho is slightly different from other parts of the country, where only about 15 percent of our forests are privately owned, much of this land is owned by families. However, these lands are in and around our publicly owned forests, providing important watershed protection, habitat, and timber to supply local mills.  We need to reward, not punish, these landowners for doing the right thing.

This bipartisan legislation excludes the value of the land, including the timber value, from the estate tax, if the land is kept in the family as a working forest or farm. As long as timber harvesting is done sustainably through a Forest Stewardship Plan, the land and timber will continue to be exempt from the estate tax. This will be a significant relief from the current law that provides a very limited forest exemption and requires the tax to be “recaptured” if timber is harvested.

If forest owners opt to place a conservation easement on their property, our legislation will provide a tax exemption of up to $5 million or 50 percent of the value of the land under a permanent easement.

My continued preference is that the estate tax is permanently repealed for all Americans. Recognizing that the votes are not there to accomplish that goal at this time, legislation like this is vital to providing as much relief as possible, until we reach that ultimate goal.

Unless something changes, in 2011, family forest owners will face a tax burden of 55 percent on land valued over $1 million, which is the same rate established in 2001. Here in lies the perfect storm: escalating estate taxes and more than one-third of forest owners over 65 years old. And, less than 4 percent of family woodlands are protected from development with conservation easements.

According to the American Forest Foundation, an estimated 2.6 million acres of woodlands a year are harvested and 1.4 million acres are sold just to pay the estate tax. That’s a loss not only for forest owners, but for all Americans. It’s time to make permanent estate tax changes to keep working forests, working.