Sec. 2. Findings

394 words·~2 min read·/bill/114/s/1733/is/section-2

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Congress finds that— public and private forest land in the United States plays a crucial role in sequestering carbon and otherwise contributes to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions; the Environmental Protection Agency has reported in the annual greenhouse gas inventory that United States forests and forest products sequester as much as 12 to 14 percent of annual United States carbon emissions, which makes forests one of the largest carbon sinks in the United States; according to the Environmental Protection Agency, carbon sequestration from forests and other land uses has grown by approximately 14 percent since 1990, largely as a result of afforestation and improved forest management; the use of forests products, such as wood products, in buildings and biobased products can also reduce carbon emissions when used in place of other, more carbon-intensive products; in addition to the significant carbon mitigation benefits of using forests and forest products for carbon sequestration, the economic and societal cobenefits of forest carbon solutions are extraordinarily valuable; and incentivizing forest carbon activities, including through working forests, has the potential to provide timber and other forest commodities, improve air quality, enhance watershed function and water supply, create and sustain fish and wildlife habitat, contribute to scenic and aesthetic qualities, support historical and cultural resources, provide hunting, fishing, and recreational opportunities, and increase forest resiliency, while also supporting rural jobs and local economies; despite positive recent trends in forest carbon, as documented by the annual greenhouse gas inventory of the Environmental Protection Agency, projections of the Forest Service indicate those forest carbon and other benefits are at risk in future decades due to development pressures and other factors; while the majority of the productive forest land of the United States is under private ownership, private landowners are facing increased pressure to convert their forest land to other uses; while some landowners are able to participate in various carbon markets, the transaction costs and restrictions of those programs are often prohibitive for private landowners, particularly smallholders; and creating incentives for private forest landowners to adopt best practices to maintain and increase carbon benefits from forest land through a streamlined program that avoids excessive transaction costs will help keep forests as forests and enhance forest carbon benefits by providing incentive payments for a suite of eligible practices throughout the lifecycle of forest management, including forest products that provide long-term carbon storage benefits.