Why It Matters: Private working forests provide a wide range of benefits to the public including providing habitat for fish and wildlife, open space, and access for sportsmen and women, and more, and the Forest Conservation Easement Program would offer landowners additional options to conserve their forestland. Preventing the conversion of working forests to other…
Why It Matters: As an experienced leader in forestry and public lands management, Tom Schultz will guide a multiple-use mission agency that has significantly reduced its timber harvesting levels over the last few decades – to the detriment of forest health, wildlife habitat, communities, and the sportsmen and women that recreate on and nearby national…
Why It Matters: South Carolina has more than 12.6 million acres of private working forests and public forests that support the state’s economy and provide habitat for fish and wildlife, open space, and places for people to hunt and fish. As the state’s forest industry faces challenges that may depress forest management activity, coupled with…
Why It Matters: Prescribed fire is one of the most efficient and cost-effective tools used for forest and wildlife habitat managers across the United States. However, the dangers associated with the use of fire, along with the public’s conflation between prescribed burning and devastating wildfires, can make its use intimidating to those who lack professional…
Why It Matters: Sustainable forest management creates quality habitat for wildlife and helps prevent the conversion of forests to other land uses, and the Disaster Reforestation Act offers support for forest landowners after a natural disaster to help them maintain the economic viability of managing their land as forests. As development pressures increase on landowners…
Why It Matters: Active management activities are critical to maintaining forest health and habitat for many important wildlife species. Well managed forests also support jobs and provide important products through a vibrant forest industry. As such, opportunities to highlight and celebrate forests and their contributions should be appreciated by conservationists across the country. Highlights: On…
January 23, 2025 (Washington, DC) – This week, three top priorities for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), the Modernizing Access to Our Public Waters (MAPWaters) Act, the Supporting the Health of Aquatic systems through Research Knowledge and Enhanced Dialogue (SHARKED) Act, and the Fix Our Forests Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Thanks to…
Why It Matters: While the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) finished the last Congress on a very strong note with the enacting into law of three priorities that passed Congress in December, there is still significant work that needs to be done for sportsmen and women. CSF hit the ground running on day one of the…
January 17, 2025 (Washington, DC) – This month, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) launched the CSF Forestry Advisory Council to bring together the forest industry and the hunting conservation community to work collaboratively to provide guidance to CSF to inform and advance policies that facilitate active forest management, support a robust forest industry, and improve wildlife habitat and…
Why It Matters: The U.S. Forest Service faces several issues going into 2025, including, among others, a workforce challenge, a budget shortfall, and more than 117 million acres of fire-prone forests in need of restoration. The withdrawal of the National Old-Growth Amendment, which the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) strongly supports, avoids further distracting the agency…
Why It Matters: Sportsmen and women depend on healthy forests to provide access and quality wildlife habitat, and the Fix Our Forests Act (H.R. 8790) would enact policy reforms that will bolster active forest management to address the restoration needs on the more than 117 million acres of fire-prone forests. The legislation is critical to…
Why It Matters: Attempting to amend 121 National Forest land management plans to provide consistent direction for the management of old-growth forests, as Alternative 2, the Preferred Alternative proposed, is a misplaced policy priority and distraction from the need to address declining fish and wildlife habitat and forest health across the National Forest System. At…