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 land uses is critical to conserving wildlife, supporting the forest industry, and passing on our outdoor sporting traditions to the next generation.
Highlights:
- Creating the Forest Conservation Easement Program is a top priority for the sportsmen’s community, forest industry, and other conservation organizations.
- The legislation fills a gap in federal conservation programs for forests by allowing state and local governments, tribal agencies, and land trusts to purchase and hold conservation easements from landowners.
- Voluntary conservation agreements are proven tools for land conservation that are tailored to meet the goals of the landowner to conserve their land, including actively managing their forests, in perpetuity or for a set term of years.
On March 13, Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Members Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Senator Roger Wicker introduced the Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP) Act of 2025 (S. 1050). The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) supports this legislation, alongside a broad coalition of other conservation organizations. In the 118th Congress, the FCEP Act of 2023 (S. 2631/H.R. 3424) had strong bipartisan support, and CSC Member and Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Representative G.T. Thompson included FCEP in the Farm Bill.
Specifically, FCEP would expand the Healthy Forests Reserve Program (HFRP), renaming it the Forest Conservation Easement Program in the Farm Bill’s conservation title. FCEP offers two options for forestland conservation: Forest Land Easements, which are modeled after the Agricultural Land Easements under the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, and Forest Reserve Easements, which are modeled after and are the successor to HFRP. Administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), land trusts and state, local, and tribal agencies are eligible to purchase and hold conservation easements on working forests. Forest Reserve Easements are purchased directly from landowners, and NRCS will hold the easements.
CSF is thankful for the leadership of Senators Gillibrand and Wicker on this pressing issue for the conservation community. FCEP is critical to keep working forests as forests and thereby provide habitat for fish and wildlife and access for hunters and anglers. CSF looks forward to continuing to support the Forest Conservation Easement Program Act with the goal of including it in the Farm Bill.
