Congress Prioritizes Parity for Forest Landowners Through Easement Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of conservation, hunter, angler, and forest management organizations and companies applauded inclusion of the Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP), with mandatory funding, in the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. As the nation’s first comprehensive private and tribal forestland conservation easement program, FCEP would give forest landowners the same opportunity other working agricultural landowners have to protect and preserve their working lands. FCEP will fill a critical funding gap to help keep these forestlands intact and sustainably managed for timber.

Private forests comprise 58 percent of all forestland in the U.S. and face significant conversion pressure from housing and urban development. FCEP will keep forests as forests. It will allow willing private and tribal landowners to voluntarily sell their development rights to prevent conversion to non-forest uses. Private forests in an FCEP conservation easement can remain privately owned, working and on tax rolls. Private forests also benefit rural and urban communities by:

• Filtering nearly 30 percent of the nation’s drinking water;
• Providing habitat for 60 percent of at-risk species;
• Supporting 5 million jobs; and
• Accounting for 90 percent of the nation’s harvests for forest products.

Groups from around the country praised the inclusion of FCEP in the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026.

“Keeping forests as forests has never been more critical, and we need all willing partners at the table,” said Danielle Watson, senior director of policy at American Forests. “The Forest Conservation Easement Program expands the scope of possibility by embracing new opportunities for Tribes, land trusts, and local governments to steward working forests for water, wildlife, human health, and forest products. American Forests applauds Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Craig as well as other champions for advancing bipartisan legislation that has the potential to significantly expand forest conservation across the country.”

“Forest conservation has been central to the Boone and Crockett Club’s mission since Theodore Roosevelt helped champion the Timberland Reserve Bill in 1891, establishing the principle of forests held in the public trust,” said James L. Cummins, co-chairman of the Boone and Crockett Club Conservation Policy Committee. “While effective, voluntary, easement-based conservation programs exist for nearly every other habitat type, forests remain a notable exception. As pressures on America’s forests intensify and their importance to wildlife, clean water, and rural communities becomes increasingly clear; the Forest Conservation Easement Program is a timely and essential tool to conserve these lands for future generations.”

“Conservation agreements are important, voluntary tools for preventing the conversion of forests to non-forest uses,” said John Culclasure, director of forest policy at the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation. “We commend Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus Members Chairman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson and Ranking Member Angie Craig, as well as the other Members of Congress who are championing this legislation, for including the Forest Conservation Easement Program in the Farm Bill to incentivize landowners to conserve forests and avert fish and wildlife habitat fragmentation. We look forward to working with Congress to advance FCEP to support the sustainable working forests across the country that provide critical access for sportsmen and women.”

“Over the next decade, we’re projected to lose roughly one million acres of forestland each year to fragmentation and conversion,” said Larry Selzer, president and CEO of The Conservation Fund. “The Conservation Fund is dedicated to preserving working forests, which support local jobs and the rural tax base, by addressing the threat of forestland conversion to non-forest uses. We applaud U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, R-P.A., and Ranking Member Angie Craig, D-M.N., for providing an important, missing conservation tool for preserving working forests and look forward to continuing working with leaders in Congress to get this pragmatic and bipartisan FCEP solution enacted.”

“We are losing our forests at an astonishing rate,” said Ashley Demosthenes, CEO of the Land Trust Alliance. “The United States loses approximately half a million acres of privately owned forestland to development each year, at the expense of valuable co-benefits like clean water, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, timber supplies and the health of local economies. Land trusts are uniquely positioned to help private landowners protect and manage their forested lands while also ensuring the public enjoys the benefits that forest conservation provides. Including the Forest Conservation Easement Program in the next farm bill enjoys broad, bipartisan support and will allow land trusts to work with the federal government to ensure that private forests stay as forests and in the hands of local families and small businesses.”

“Conservation easement programs are an important tool that should be available to all private forest owners,” said Dave Tenny, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Forest Owners. “Combined with healthy markets for forest products, conservation easement programs help privately owned forests provide a full range of benefits to rural communities. These include both economic prosperity and maintaining healthy populations of common and at-risk species and the habitats they need. Smart legislation, like the Forest Conservation Easement Program, helps America’s private working forests continue to provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and good paying jobs in rural communities. We applaud Chairman Thompson for including this legislation in the Farm Bill.”

“Privately owned forests conserve critically important landscapes, protect vital drinking-water watersheds, sequester millions of tons of carbon, and provide essential wildlife habitat. They also serve as an economic backbone for many rural communities. Yet, these forests are increasingly being converted to other uses. The Forest Conservation Easement Program is essential to ensuring these working forests remain intact and productive in perpetuity,” said Camille Green, conservation policy coordinator for Wildlife Mississippi.

FCEP is an expansion of and successor to the current Healthy Forests Reserve Program (HFRP) under the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). As a successor program, FCEP has the potential to offer new resources to meet various needs, which is especially critical at this time. One significant feature of this expansion is that it provides funding for conservation easements to be acquired by land trusts, Tribes, and local governments, similar to a longstanding program for farmland and ranchland. This fills a vital funding gap for forestland.

The FCEP text included in the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 is similar to the FCEP Act of 2025 (H.R. 3476/S. 1050), which was introduced in the U.S. House by U.S. Representative Trent Kelly, R- Miss., and U.S. Representative Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., and in the U.S. Senate by U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., with the goal of including the legislation in the Farm Bill with mandatory funding.

For more information, visit www.foresteasement.org.

Media Contact: media@conservationfund.org

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ADDITIONAL QUOTES:

Nicole Zussman, president & CEO, Appalachian Mountain Club
“The Appalachian Mountain Club and communities throughout our region know firsthand how important working forests are for regional economies and how they enable generations of people to find meaningful, inspiring experiences in the outdoors. As forestland owners ourselves in northern Maine, we take seriously the responsibility of managing forests for the benefit of the environment and the economy. We recognize that FCEP is a critical tool to help protect our nation’s working forests for the well-being of people and the outdoors and we are pleased to see this widely-supported, effective program included in the Farm Bill.”

Katie Allen, director of landscape conservation, Appalachian Trail Conservancy
“Forest loss and fragmentation threaten the congressionally identified values and experiences on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Protecting working forests is one of the most effective tools we have to safeguard the Trail’s landscape and viewshed while supporting rural economies, clean water, and wildlife habitat. We commend Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Craig for including the bipartisan Forest Conservation Easement Program in the Farm Bill.”

Mark K. Wourms, president & CEO, Bernheim Forest & Arboretum
“The people of Kentucky are avid hunters and fishermen/fisherwomen. Unfortunately, many forested parcels are being lost to rapid development. Conservation easements on forest lands is an important tool to protect habitat for recreational activities including hunting and fishing for generations to come. Our 300,000 annual visitors support the establishment and funding of FCEP.”

Mary Olive, interim director of land policy, Carbon180
“We are losing tree cover at a rapid scale – the U.S. alone lost 49 million hectares from 2001 to 2024. The Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP) Act is designed to keep forests as forests through voluntary conservation easements, and we thank Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Craig for including this important legislation, which will ensure we can preserve working forests at a time when private forestlands face threats of conversion to other land uses.”

Scott Jones, CEO, Forest Landowners Association
“Expanding access to both traditional timber markets and emerging opportunities like voluntary conservation easements is essential for multi-generational family businesses as they face growing challenges like rising natural disasters, mill closures, and unfair trade practices. The Forest Conservation Easement Program Act would provide an important tool to ensure private working forests remain forests, allowing landowners to make the best decisions for the long-term health and the profitability of their land.”

Scott Taylor, president, Kentucky Woodland Owners Association
“Private forests in an FCEP easement can remain working forests, strengthening local communities and providing numerous economic and environmental benefits to rural and urban communities. With forest lands suffering the same fracturing and development pressure that our conventional agricultural lands face FCEP is a critical tool for forest landowner families to be able to continue to maintain these working forest lands to provide wood products, clean water and air, and wildlife habitat for future generations of all Americans.”

Diana Kern, executive director, Legacy Land Conservancy
“Legacy Land Conservancy supports the Forest Conservation Easement Program as an important part of keeping working forests as forests. Conserving forestland in Michigan protects the health of the Great Lakes watershed, safeguards drinking water across the basin, and supports a forest economy. As pressures on open space and natural areas continue to grow, this program will add another tool to help landowners align their conservation and property goals.”

John Morgan, president and CEO, National Bobwhite and Grassland Initiative Foundation
“A voluntary forest land easement program for private working forest owners is a critically important yet missing conservation and management tool. Our private working forests, woodlands, and savannas are important wildlife habitat, and many species such as the Northern bobwhite depend upon these healthy forest habitats to survive and thrive. These forests face an increasing myriad of threats to conversion for other uses. The Forest Conservation Easement Program would provide an important alternative for voluntarily maintaining the long-term wildlife habitat benefits of private working forests while supporting rural communities.”

Kurt Dyroff, co-CEO, National Wild Turkey Federation
“Healthy, diverse forests are critical for wild turkeys and countless other species. By supporting the Forest Conservation Easement Program, we ensure these habitats remain intact and productive—allowing wildlife to thrive and preserving quality hunting opportunities for future generations.”

Louis Geltman, vice president for policy & government relations, Outdoor Alliance
“Protected forestlands provide outstanding conservation and public health benefits, and often provide important opportunities for outdoor recreation. Outdoor Alliance supports the Forest Conservation Easement Program, which will help willing landowners sustain these benefits for present and future generations. We commend Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Craig for including this needed program in the 2026 Farm Bill.”

Andrew Schmidt, director of government affairs, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever
“The inclusion of the Forest Conservation Easement Program in the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 is an important step forward for working lands conservation. Conserving and managing working forests is essential to improving forest health, maximizing timber value, and sustaining quality wildlife habitat, particularly for northern bobwhite quail and other species that depend on early successional habitat. This program will help ensure these forests remain productive, resilient, and beneficial for wildlife and rural communities alike.”

Jimmy Bullock, senior vice president, forest sustainability, Resource Management Service
“Privately owned forests conserve critically important landscapes, protect vital watersheds many communities depend on for drinking water, sequester millions of tons of carbon, and provide habitats for wildlife species. They are also the economic lifeline for many rural communities. Yet, many of these lands are being converted from forests to other uses. The Forest Conservation Easement Program is essential to keeping many of these forests as forests in perpetuity.”

Ryan Bronson, director of government affairs, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
“The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation strongly supports the establishment of a Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP) in the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill. Building off the established model for Agriculture Conservation Easements, FCEP can be a powerful tool for keeping America’s working private forest intact and providing habitat, as well as economic and ecological benefits. The bipartisan support for this provision from chairman Thompson and ranking member Craig is a testament to its common-sense approach to conservation.”

Jack Savage, president, Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
“New England forests have long provided critical benefits, including clean drinking water, wildlife habitat and renewable wood products. We continue to lose 5,000 acres of forest annually in New Hampshire. Keeping forests as forests is an urgent priority to maintain our quality of life as we address climate change this century. As a land trust, the Forest Society would be able to conserve more forests more quickly through the Forest Conservation Easement Program.”

Myke Bybee, senior director of government relations, Trust for Public Land
“Trust for Public Land applauds Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Craig for including the popular and bipartisan Forest Conservation Easement Program in their recently released Farm Bill. By strengthening NRCS’s ability to work with communities, FCEP will protect wildlife habitat, preserve public access, and sustain rural economies—while giving landowners flexible, proven options to conserve their forestlands for future generations.”

Thomas D. Saunders, president and CEO, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
“WPC has long supported a workable, working forest conservation easement program in the next Farm Bill. It would be a valuable and welcome addition to the suite of voluntary, private lands conservation programs and would benefit all Pennsylvanians by providing new tools for conservancies and land trusts to protect forestland in the commonwealth.”