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National Council for Private Forests
600 Jefferson Plaza - Suite
350
Rockville, Maryland 20852
301-838-9385
January 21, 2003
The Honorable Ted Stevens
Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee
United States Senate
Washington DC 20510
Dear Chairman Stevens:
The National Council for Private Forests (NCPF), a diverse coalition of
national and regional private forest and family organizations,
associations, professional societies, conservation groups and academic
institutions, is writing to express its members' concern about an
Administration-proposed budget amendment that would reduce funding for
the recently enacted Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP). The
Administration's proposal would reduce FLEP funding by forty percent, or
$8 million, in the fiscal year 2003 budget. We seek your help in
opposing the Administration's amendment, which would transfer this
critical FLEP funding to a technical assistance account where it will be
unavailable for forest landowner assistance to tens of thousands of
non-industrial private forest landowners.
The NCPF worked with both the Senate and House Agriculture Committees to
develop a new model for the delivery of professional forestry services
to assist private forest landowners with sustainable forestry practices.
The FLEP program consolidates two existing programs and offers a
tremendous opportunity to maximize conservation stewardship across a
diverse forest landowner base that is feeling rapidly increasing social,
economic, and political pressure to provide public goods and services.
The Administration's proposal erodes the support, confidence, and
commitments made by Congress to encourage sustainable forest management
practices on America's private forests. As required by FLEP, state
forestry agencies have already begun developing priority plans and are
working with state forest stewardship committees and forest landowners
to determine how forest management practices can best improve wildlife
habitat, water quality, and local communities. Without the full funding
of FLEP, the ability for the program to reach its goal of fostering the
long-term sustainability of non-industrial private forestlands will be
significantly threatened, and the program will ultimately become another
unfulfilled promise to assist rural communities.
We are willing to work with you and your staff to achieve a more
equitable balance to this important program. Please contact me
(301-838-9385) or incoming NCFP Chair Vernon Hayes (301-877-6898) if you
need additional information on this issue or if you have counsel for us
on what actions to take to retain the authorized level of FLEP funding.
Sincerely,
Richard Lewis
NCPF Chair
Cc: Robert C. Byrd, Ranking Member, Senate
Appropriations Committee
C.W. Bill Young,
Chairman, House Appropriations Committee
David R. Obey, Ranking
Member, House Appropriations Committee
Thad Cochran, Chairman,
Senate Agriculture Committee
Tom Harkin, Ranking
Member, Senate Agriculture Committee
Bob Goodlatte,
Chairman, House Agriculture Committee
Charles W. Stenholm,
Ranking Member, House Agriculture Committee
The National Council
for Private Forests promotes long-term
management and
productivity of all
forest
resources on non-industrial
private forestlands.
NCPF members include American Forests, American Forest Foundation,
American Forest and Paper
Association, Association of Consulting Foresters, Forest Landowners
Association, Forest Resources Association,
International Association of Fish and Game Agencies, National
Association of Conservation Districts, National
Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges, National
Association of State Foresters, National
Woodland Owners Association, Pinchot Institute
for Conservation, and Society of
American Foresters.
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