Last month, the Trump Administration’s Interior Department reignited this debate by proposing to rescind this rule, which would remove conservation as an eligible “use” for BLM land. What the rescission proposal gets wrong is the difference between conservation and preservation.
After passing the House in January with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) had been at a standstill for the past nine months– until yesterday.
Few examples make that clearer than U.S. Sugar, a Florida-based sugarcane grower and processor that’s turned decades of research and innovation into measurable, on-the-ground environmental progress. From planting and harvesting to processing and transporting roughly 13 percent of America’s refined sugar, the company has incorporated efficient and sustainable practices into each stage of its operation.
Healthy soil is at the heart of a prosperous and abundant farming industry.
The more we innovate, the cleaner our environment tends to get. This correlation shows itself across many sectors of the American economy. Agriculture is no exception.
But these landscapes and ecosystems cannot thrive without intentional conservation and responsible stewardship.
That’s why it was fitting that the President signed the “Make America Beautiful Again” executive order one day before Independence Day, an initiative aimed at conserving and restoring America’s natural environment for future generations.
Energy developers, foresters, and farmers alike are all too familiar with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). At the USDA, NEPA has stifled progress through lengthy environmental impact statements and redundant environmental assessments for projects ranging from farmland conservation to forest management and livestock grazing.
Congress recognized that conservation plays a critical role in global security and improved cooperation among countries when it passed the U.S. Foundation for International Conservation Act (USFICA) last December, as part of a nearly $1 trillion defense spending package.
America’s farmland is an irreplaceable part of our natural heritage. The U.S. is home to more than 10 percent of the entire planet’s agricultural land, and it is essential that conservation efforts empower and support, not hinder, the farmers and ranchers who depend on it.
As we enter the drier summer months this year and observe National Wildfire Awareness Month (May), it’s an important time for policymakers to evaluate how we prepare for, prevent, and respond to these fires. One bill that seeks to better prepare the country for fires is the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA).
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