[Senate Hearing 117-90]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       S. Hrg. 117-90

                      FEDERAL, STATE, AND PRIVATE
                     FORESTLANDS: OPPORTUNITIES FOR
                       ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE

=======================================================================

                                 HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                       COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
                        NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                              MAY 20, 2021

                               __________

                       Printed for the use of the
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
           
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]           


                  Available on http://www.govinfo.gov/
                  
                               __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
45-947 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2022                     
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------                     
                  
           COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY


                 DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan, Chairwoman
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont            JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio                  MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota             JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado          JONI ERNST, Iowa
KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York      CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
TINA SMITH, Minnesota                ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois          TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
CORY BOOKER, New Jersey              CHARLES GRASSLEY, Iowa
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia             DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
                                     MIKE BRAUN, Indiana

               Joseph A. Shultz, Majority Staff Director
               Mary Beth Schultz, Majority Chief Counsel
                    Jessica L. Williams, Chief Clerk
            Martha Scott Poindexter, Minority Staff Director
                 Fred J. Clark, Minority Chief Counsel
                            
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                         Thursday, May 20, 2021

                                                                   Page

Hearing:

Federal, State, and Private Forestlands: Opportunities for 
  Addressing Climate Change......................................     1

                              ----------                              

                    STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY SENATORS

Stabenow, Hon. Debbie, U.S. Senator from the State of Michigan...     1
Boozman, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Arkansas......     2

                               WITNESSES

Dillard, Kedren, Forest Owner, Sustainable Forestry and African 
  American Land Retention Network; Board Member, American Forest 
  Foundation, Washington, DC.....................................     6
Harris, Troy, Managing Director of Timberland, Jamestown LP; 
  Board Member, National Alliance of Forest Owners, Atlanta, GA..     8
Orrego, Jessica, Director of Forestry, American Carbon Registry, 
  Winrock International, Little Rock, AR.........................     9
Fox, Joe, State Forester, Forestry Division, Arkansas Department 
  of Agriculture; President, National Association of State 
  Foresters, Little Rock, AR.....................................    11
Cheng, Tony, Ph.D., Director, Colorado Forest Restoration 
  Institute; Professor, Forest & Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado 
  State University, Fort Collins, CO.............................    13
                              
                              ----------                              

                                APPENDIX

Prepared Statements:
    Dillard, Kedren..............................................    34
    Harris, Troy.................................................    39
    Orrego, Jessica..............................................    44
    Fox, Joe.....................................................    50
    Cheng, Tony, Ph.D............................................    74

Question and Answer:
Dillard, Kedren:
    Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman.........    78
Harris, Troy:
    Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman.........    80
    Written response to questions from Hon. Amy Klobuchar........    81
Orrego, Jessica:
    Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman.........    84
Fox, Joe:
    Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman.........    85
    Written response to questions from Hon. Amy Klobuchar........    91
    Written response to questions from Hon. John Hoeven..........    93
    Written response to questions from Hon. Charles Grassley.....    94
Cheng, Tony, Ph.D.:
    Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman.........   101
    Written response to questions from Hon. Amy Klobuchar........   102
    Written response to questions from Hon. John Hoeven..........   102
    Written response to questions from Hon. Charles Grassley.....   103

 
                      FEDERAL, STATE, AND PRIVATE
                       FORESTLANDS: OPPORTUNITIES
                     FOR ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE

                              ----------                              


                         THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021

                                       U.S. Senate,
         Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:37 a.m., via 
Webex and in room 301, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. 
Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Committee, presiding.
    Present or submitting a statement: Senators Stabenow, 
Brown, Klobuchar, Bennet, Gillibrand, Smith, Durbin, Booker, 
Warnock, Boozman, Ernst, Marshall, Tuberville, Grassley, Thune, 
Fischer, and Braun.

STATEMENT OF HON. DEBBIE STABENOW, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE 
    OF MICHIGAN, CHAIRWOMAN, U.S. COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 
                    NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

    Chairwoman Stabenow. I call to order the Senate 
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. We want to 
thank everybody for joining us this morning to talk about the 
incredible potential of America's forests to help solve the 
climate crisis. We have a number of members involved in really 
important leadership work on this issue.
    Covering more than one-third of the land area of the United 
States, our public and private forests already play an 
important role storing carbon, and with the right policies they 
have the potential to do so much more.
    Mother Nature could not have designed a more effective 
mechanism for sequestering carbon and cleaning our air. 
America's forests currently pull as much carbon dioxide out of 
the air every year as eliminating 54 million cars from the 
road, according to the National Academy of Sciences. Just as a 
caveat, as somebody from a state which makes vehicles, we would 
still like you to buy vehicles. That is very, very significant, 
what our forests alone can do.
    Climate-smart forestry policies offer both tools to reduce 
carbon pollution and an important opportunity to develop new 
revenue streams for family foresters. This helps provide 
financial stability in uncertain times as pressure increases to 
subdivide forestland for new development.
    Our solutions cannot be one-size-fits all, as we know. 
Small acreage and minority landowners have too often been left 
out of the kind of opportunities we are talking about today. 
Their stories are unique, and their needs may be very different 
than those of larger or more resourced operations. We have a 
duty to bring all voices to the table, and we have witnesses 
with us today who can speak to how we can do more to address 
the needs of these foresters specifically.
    We also have to invest in our national forests, both in 
replanting stands that have been affected by wildfire and 
insect outbreaks and in pursuing science-based restoration of 
our public land to help prevent wildfires in the first place. 
Senator Bennet, who chairs our Forestry Subcommittee, and whose 
beautiful home State of Colorado last year saw some of the 
worst wildfires in recent in history, is leading a bill on 
this. I look forward to working with you on it, Senator Bennet.
    As we work to better manage our forests to help us reach 
our climate goals, we have to think about a variety of 
different principles to help guide the discussion. First, we 
need to ensure that climate-smart forestry policies and 
practices complement and strengthen our traditional forest 
products markets. In fact, I think there is great promise in 
storing carbon in long-lived wood products like mass timber. We 
worked in a bipartisan way in the last farm bill to enact my 
Timber Innovation Act, and my alma mater, Michigan State 
University, is building the first mass timber building in the 
State of Michigan. I understand, Senator Boozman, you have a 
large construction project, at least one, in Arkansas as well. 
We must look for additional opportunities to build markets for 
climate-friendly forestry products.
    Second, as we think about reaping additional climate 
benefits from managed timberland, we also need to redouble our 
efforts to protect the few remaining stands of old-growth 
forests. These mature forests are tremendous carbon reserves, 
and they ought to be preserved, both for the climate and for 
other benefits like providing wildlife habitat and clean water.
    A diverse coalition of forestland owners, industry, 
conservationists, and outdoor recreation enthusiasts agree that 
voluntary, flexible policies and investments to drive climate-
smart forestry practices are a win-win. My Rural Forest Markets 
Act with Senator Braun, along with the REPLANT Act with 
Senators Portman, Bennet and Marshall, are examples of 
bipartisan bills that positively address these issues. I know 
we will hear strong support for both pieces of legislation 
today, as well as other opportunities in this arena.
    I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. We thank each 
of you for being with us. With that I would recognize my friend 
and our Ranking Member, Senator Boozman, for his comments.

 STATEMENT OF HON. SENATOR JOHN BOOZMAN, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE 
                       STATE OF ARKANSAS

    Senator Boozman. Thank you, Chairwoman Stabenow, for your 
interest and commitment in continuing this important 
conversation focusing on the forestry sector. I appreciate the 
collaboration for today's hearing and thank our witnesses for 
their time today. I look forward to today's conversation, 
because the forest sector and the wood products industries have 
a great story to tell when it comes to the numerous benefits 
healthy working forests provide, including carbon 
sequestration.
    The good news is we have an abundance of the world's 
greatest carbon sequestration machines--trees. Using Forest 
Service data, the Environmental Protection Agency declared U.S. 
forests' carbon stocks contained 58.7 billion metric tons of 
carbon in 2019. U.S. forests were also a net carbon sink of 221 
million metric tons of carbon in 2019, offsetting approximately 
12 percent of gross annual greenhouse gas emissions in the 
United States for the year. Twelve percent--it is amazing.
    While this is encouraging, we cannot simply plant more 
trees and expect an end to the conversation. Planting trees 
without appropriate and active management is the equivalent of 
planting mountains of kindling across our public and private 
forestlands. The good news is that America's foresters, public 
and private land management experts, and the wood products 
industry know how to maintain, cultivate, and sustain healthy 
forests today and for generations to come.
    This lifecycle of planting trees, managing forests, 
harvesting timber, and delivering this commodity to a vibrant 
wood products industry is a win-win for everyone. Our forests 
win from active management and treatments that help mitigate 
against pests and diseases, and minimize the severity and 
intensity of catastrophic wildfires. Healthy, well-managed 
forests provide cleaner air and water and vibrant ecosystems 
for wildlife and recreation activities. This is a win for all 
of us.
    When we manage our forests properly, we can harvest 
desirable timber, continue reforestation activities, and 
support the growing wood products industry, which sequesters 
carbon in products beyond the life of the individual tree. This 
is a win for public and private forestlands, our wood products 
industry, and for the economic sustainability of rural 
communities relying on this industry for their livelihood.
    The common denominator in achieving these wins is 
management. Providing forestry experts the right tools yields 
us healthy forests, healthy markets, and countless benefits. 
According to the American Forest and Paper Association, the 
forest products industry employs over 900,000 people and 
supports 2.5 million jobs through its supply chain. The 
industry represents around four percent of the U.S. 
manufacturing gross domestic product and manufactures almost 
$300 billion in products annually. This industry and these jobs 
are essential to rural economies.
    In Arkansas we are seeing some of the exciting innovations 
of mass timber. For instance, the University of Arkansas' Adohi 
Hall is a 202,000-square-foot student residence constructed 
almost entirely of mass timber. It is one of the largest mass 
timber buildings in the United States, estimating to store the 
equivalent of over 3,000 metric tons of carbon.
    Also, Walmart is constructing a new corporate headquarters 
in Bentonville with 1.7 million cubic feet of mass timber, 
harvested and manufactured in Arkansas. As a result of that 
project, Structurlam will be opening a new facility in Conway, 
Arkansas, that will create over 100 new jobs in the State. 
These projects are a microcosm of the win-win opportunities 
tied to healthy, well-managed working forests. There are many 
success stories to be told.
    As Congress and the Administration consider strategies to 
promote voluntary participation in combating climate change, we 
must avoid policies that take forestland out of production or 
deter sound management practices. We must ensure foresters and 
landowners are able to operate with certainty, predictability, 
and transparency, and we must avoid taking actions that may 
disrupt this successful and sustainable market cycle.
    This is true with the Administration's tax proposal on 
capital gains and on a stepped-up basis, which may have 
significant implications for agriculture and forestry 
industries by frustrating, rather than facilitating, market 
opportunities for landowners, timber harvest, and the wood 
products industries, which is why I encourage our stakeholders 
to examine these tax proposals and consider how they impact 
operations today and for future generations.
    We need to keep our forests working and not pursue policies 
or incentivize practices that may impede the great story of our 
forest and wood products industries. With that, I am eager to 
hear the unique interests from our witnesses today to better 
understand the wins healthy working forests provide by 
sequestering carbon, supporting our rural communities and our 
growing wood products industry.
    Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Well, thank you very much, Senator 
Boozman. I appreciate working with you on the hearing and on 
this really important issue. I know we share a desire to do 
positive things in this area.
    Now we will introduce all five of our witnesses first and 
then come back and ask each of our witnesses to share five 
minutes of testimony. We are very interested in what other 
information you would like to provide us in writing as well 
today.
    Let me start with Kedren Dillard, a fourth-generation 
forest landowner in Brunswick County, Virginia. Ms. Dillard is 
part of a network of landowners with the Sustainable Forestry 
and African American Land Retention Network, and a board member 
of the American Forest Foundation. In addition to her expertise 
on forestry and climate matter, she has particular experience 
with heirs' property issues, working to clarify and document 
the ownership of her family's land, resulting in more than 250 
descendants.
    Today Ms. Dillard and her family continue to work on 
improving the health of their forests to ensure that their land 
will benefit generations to come.
    Next let me introduce Mr. Troy Harris. I know that Senator 
Warnock had hoped that he would be able to give this 
introduction. I know he is working to get here to the Committee 
today, but I am going to proceed on his behalf.
    Troy Harris is the Managing Director of Jamestown 
Timberland Investment Management Organization in Atlanta, 
Georgia. He is a certified forester, serves on the Operating 
Committee of the National Alliance of Forest Owners, is a 
member of the Forest Landowners Association, and the Georgia 
Forestry Association. Mr. Harris has more than 25 years' 
experience in timberland portfolio management.
    I now want to recognize Senator Boozman, who will introduce 
our next witnesses.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I want to 
introduce Ms. Jessica Orrego, Director of Forestry of the 
American Carbon Registry at Winrock International, Little Rock, 
Arkansas. Ms. Orrego is currently the American Carbon Registry 
Director of Forestry at Winrock International. She is 
responsible for the listing, verifying, and registering of 
carbon projects under compliance and voluntary carbon markets. 
Ms. Orrego has experience in project development, consulting 
and implementation for a wide range of climate-focused 
entities, including the Plan Vivo Foundation, U.S. Climate 
Change Science Program, and EcoSecurities.
    In her previous roles, she worked to develop protocols, 
projects, and climate research coordination. Ms. Orrego has a 
bachelor's degree in biology and master's degree in forestry 
from the University of Vermont. Welcome, Ms. Jessica Orrego. 
Thank you so much for participating in today's hearing.
    Next, I would like to introduce another Arkansan, Mr. Joe 
Fox, our State Forester, President of the National Association 
of State Foresters, from Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. Fox is the 
State Forester for Arkansas, a role held since 2012, in the 
Forestry Division of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. He 
is the current President of the National Association of State 
Foresters.
    Before coming to the department, Mr. Fox was the Director 
of Conservation Forestry for the Arkansas Field Office of The 
Nature Conservancy. He has experience in forest project 
development, conservation planning, and land acquisition. 
Previously he spent 20 years working in a family owned lumber 
business. He holds two bachelor's degrees in forestry and 
agricultural economics. Joe has done a tremendous job for the 
State of Arkansas. Thank you, Mr. Fox, for participating, and 
welcome.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Last but not 
least, I will turn to Senator Bennet. I do have to make a note 
that Senator Bennet had two witnesses, I think, at the last 
hearing.
    Senator Bennet. We are down to one.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Yes, I know, and Senator Boozman had 
two this time. I have got to work on Michigan here. We have got 
to make sure more members are getting people to come in from 
their State.
    Senator Bennet.
    Senator Bennet. Thank you, Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking 
Member Boozman. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to 
introduce Dr. Tony Cheng. Dr. Cheng is the Director of the 
Colorado Forest Restoration Institute. He is also a professor 
and extension specialist in forest and rangeland stewardship at 
Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. He holds a master's 
in forestry from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D.--okay, 
I know, you can't get through.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Excuse me. I don't think----
    Senator Bennet. They had the highest voter turnout in the 
country. Okay.
    He holds a master's in forestry from the University of 
Minnesota and a Ph.D. in forestry from Oregon State University. 
For over 20 years, Dr. Cheng has worked in Colorado and across 
the West, at the intersection of academic research and 
practical forest management. In his role leading CFRI, Dr. 
Cheng works with land managers, collaborative groups, and local 
interests to develop science-based forest management strategies 
to restore landscapes and manage fire risk, with a focus on 
national forest lands.
    During my time in the Senate I have relied on Dr. Cheng 
over and over again for his insights and expertise. In 2014, I 
asked him to co-lead a group of forestry experts to tell us how 
to better support forest health and wildfire recovery efforts 
in Colorado. These recommendations guided our work to 
reauthorize CFLRP in the 2018 Farm Bill, improve wildfire 
recovery funding, and finally end fire borrowing.
    Last fall I asked Dr. Cheng to join a group of Colorado 
businesses, county commissioners, water leaders, and 
conservationists to develop policy recommendations for building 
climate resilience in the West. One of the group's top 
recommendations was investing in the forest and watershed 
health. Just a few weeks ago, Dr. Cheng and I were together 
with Secretary Vilsack and Governor Polis, looking at forest 
health treatments in Colorado's Arapaho & Roosevelt National 
Forests.
    I am grateful for Dr. Cheng's leadership and guidance on 
these issues over the years, and I am honored to welcome him to 
the Committee today.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Well, thank you very much, Senator 
Bennet. We will turn to our witnesses. I do want to reassure 
our witnesses we will not harass you. We only harass each other 
on the Committee. We will start with Ms. Dillard. Welcome.

STATEMENT OF KEDREN DILLARD, FOREST OWNER, SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY 
  AND AFRICAN AMERICAN LAND RETENTION NETWORK; BOARD MEMBER, 
           AMERICAN FOREST FOUNDATION, WASHINGTON, DC

    Ms. Dillard. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for the 
opportunity to testify on behalf of the Sustainable Forestry 
and African American Land Retention Network, SFLR, and the 
American Forest Foundation.
    As you consider climate policy in this Committee and in 
this Congress, please consider policies that recognize the 
important role and opportunity African American forest owners 
like my family, as well as other family forest owners have in 
contributing to climate solutions. In addition to helping 
reduce carbon emissions, climate policy should give landowners 
the tools and support to tackle the impacts of climate change 
on our land, with voluntary efforts that increase our land's 
value, help us keep our land in the family, and keep it 
forested and healthy.
    Family and individual forest owners own more than one-third 
of U.S. forests, making us essential in efforts to mitigate 
climate change. America's forests already capture and store 
nearly 15 percent of annual U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. We 
can do much more with our forests if we empower our family 
forest owners, including African American owners like me, with 
the right tools and policy support.
    I am proud fourth-generation forest landowner. With my 
family, we own approximately 160 acres of land in three small 
farmland plots in Brunswick County, located in Southern 
Virginia. Luckily, our titles are clear on all three properties 
now, but this took a great deal of work and money, paying the 
legal fees and buying out all 250 heirs to a portion of this 
land. With the help of the Black Family Land Trust, an SFLR 
network organization, to date we have been able to keep the 
land in the family.
    We are fortunate to work through these heirs' property 
issues and land ownership concerns, but know that many other 
African American landowners with long and emotional ties to the 
land have not been so fortunate. Heirs' property, combined with 
the lack of access and trust in institutions that support 
landowners have led to significant loss of African American and 
other minority landownership.
    On our land we harvest timber to pay for the upkeep and 
management of expenses, but this is not nearly enough to cover 
all our costs, forcing my family and I to absorb the remaining 
expenses out of pocket. There will come a time when fewer 
family members will share in these costs and it will be too 
much of a burden to bear by only a few. This will undoubtedly 
jeopardize keeping my land family owned and in forests.
    As a result, we are actively looking for additional 
opportunities to help the land pay for itself, and in parallel, 
identify management efforts that are both good for the climate 
and for the long-term health of our forests. USDA conservation 
programs can certainly help. However, carbon markets present a 
near-term solution to this challenge for my family and other 
neighboring landowners who cannot afford management on their 
own.
    Carbon markets can help bring private sector money, some 
estimate in the billions, to family forests like mine. While we 
would like to enroll our land in a carbon market, the 
opportunities are few and far between, as most carbon markets 
favor large lands over small, family owned forests like ours.
    Individual carbon projects on small forests are extremely 
costly and complex, making carbon markets largely out of scope 
for me and other owners like myself. There are significant 
upfront costs for developing a carbon projects and implementing 
forest management practices that do not return revenues from 
the sale of carbon until years later. Most families simply do 
not have the resources for upfront expenses and the ability to 
wait years for a return.
    I want to thank Senators Stabenow and Braun for introducing 
the Rural Forest Markets Act as a solution to overcome these 
barriers and help family forest owners access carbon markets. 
This bill unlocks private capital that can finance the high 
upfront costs of entering a carbon market, and can be paid as 
carbon is generated and sold from forest carbon actions over 
time. This bill will help family forest owners like me 
participate in carbon markets, earn revenue for needed forest 
management that benefits the climate, something I could not 
afford to do without this bill, and bring civilians and private 
sector resources to small farming families like mine.
    I respectfully urge further improvement of the bill to 
ensure historically underserved landowners, including African 
American landowners who face significant barriers in market 
participation can take part in these opportunities.
    Thank you for the opportunity to share my views and my 
story. I look forward to further discussion.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Dillard can be found on page 
34 in the appendix.]

    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. We now would like 
to turn to Mr. Troy Harris. Welcome.

  STATEMENT OF TROY HARRIS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TIMBERLAND, 
JAMESTOWN LP; BOARD MEMBER, NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF FOREST OWNERS, 
                        ATLANTA, GEORGIA

    Mr. Harris. Thank you, Chairman Stabenow, Ranking Member 
Boozman, and distinguished members of the Senate Agriculture 
Committee. On behalf of Jamestown, thank you for the 
opportunity to testify today.
    Jamestown is a global, design-focused real estate 
investment and management company with a 37-year track record 
and clear mission to transform spaces into innovation hubs and 
community centers. We employ more than 400 people worldwide 
with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and Cologne, Germany.
    Since 2009, Jamestown has owned and managed timberlands in 
the eastern United States, including timberland in Georgia, 
Alabama, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, and Indiana. 
We take great pride in managing our forests using sustainable 
forestry practices.
    In 2020, Jamestown made a pledge to reach net zero 
emissions by 2050, and to cut our carbon emissions by 50 
percent by 2030. I am a forester by training, and so I am proud 
of the contributions our timberland can make to our company's 
emissions reduction goals.
    Today I would like to talk about the bigger picture--how 
our countries working for us are contributing to climate 
mitigation. One out of every three acres in the United States 
is covered by forests, and 67 percent of U.S. forests are 
working forests. Working forests are forests sustainably 
managed to deliver a steady, renewable supply of wood for 
building materials, and more than 5,000 items that consumers 
use every day.
    The U.S. is a global leader in sustainable forestry 
management, providing clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat, 
and rural jobs.
    Harvests occur on only about two percent of our total land 
area on private working forests each year, and that same amount 
of acreage is free grown each year.
    Forests are the optimal land use for maximizing carbon 
storage. Privately owned working forests provide approximately 
90 percent of our wood and fiber needs, yet they also return 
and account for 73 percent of our gross annual forest carbon 
sequestration, enough to offset emissions from all passenger 
vehicles in the U.S. each year. Private working forests also 
store more carbon than all other U.S. forests combined.
    The forest sector is already carbon negatives. Forests 
sequester more carbon than is admitted from forest harvest 
operations and forest products manufacturing together, in fact, 
16 times more. The data clearly show that working forests can 
produce products while supporting rural jobs and benefiting 
climate.
    There is room to do more, and we have set a path to get 
there as a forest sector. Jamestown is a member of the National 
Allice of Forest Owners. I recently joined NAFO and the CEOs of 
42 other forest-owning companies, as well as the CEOs of the 
Environmental Defense Fund and The Nature Conservancy to adopt 
a unique set of principles on private working forests as a 
natural climate solution.
    NAFO has carried these ideas through the broader 
stakeholder groups, in particular the Forest-Climate Working 
Group, the unified voice across U.S. forest sector on climate 
policy.
    The built environment is one place where sustainable forest 
products can produce clear climate wins. According to the 
United Nations, traditional building materials account for 
roughly 11 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions. 
Building with wood can sustainably reduce that number, and mass 
timber buildings, buildings made with structural timber, make 
more wood-intensive buildings possible.
    Jamestown recently announced plans to construct a 100,000 
square foot office building from mass timber targeting LEED 
Gold at Ponce City Market in Atlanta, Georgia. While Jamestown 
has been an early adopter, we are not alone. Michigan State 
University is a pioneer in the research and adoption of mass 
timber. They built the first mass timber building in Michigan, 
and Walmart's commitment to mass timber for their headquarters 
spurred a $90 million investment in a new mass timber 
production facility in rural Arkansas.
    The U.S. is behind on mass timber production use. This is 
where the Committee can help. This Committee has three clear 
pathways to further climate-smart policies in our sector. 
First, you can expand markets for forest carbon, creating 
accessibility and credibility. Second, you can encourage more 
sustainable source wood construction by building on the Timber 
Innovation Act. Whole-building lifecycle analysis can lead to 
carbon reductions in the whole-built environment, not only in 
wood.
    Third, you can improve forest carbon data. Markets for 
forest carbon and climate-smart construction need data to prove 
climate benefits with greater precision. The U.S. Government 
can collect and give credibility to data so that markets, 
forest owners, and consumers all have faith in it.
    Private working forests are already doing a lot for the 
climate, and they can do even more. Thank you for your time, 
and I look forward to the discussion.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Harris can be found on page 
39 in the appendix.]

    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Now Ms. Jessica 
Orrego. Welcome.

  STATEMENT OF JESSICA ORREGO, DIRECTOR OF FORESTRY, AMERICAN 
 CARBON REGISTRY, WINROCK INTERNATIONAL, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

    Ms. Orrego. Chairwoman Stabenow, Ranking Member Boozman, 
and distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for 
inviting the American Carbon Registry to testify today on this 
important topic. We are at a critical inflection point in the 
history of forest carbon markets in the U.S. With demand for 
high-quality carbon credits taking off, today's hearing comes 
at the right time.
    My name is Jessica Orrego, and I am the Director of 
Forestry at the American Carbon Registry, or ACR, which is a 
nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International and was founded 
in 1996 as the first private voluntary greenhouse gas registry 
in the world.
    In both the voluntary carbon market and California's 
regulated carbon market, ACR oversees the registration and 
verification of carbon offset projects, which follow approved 
carbon accounting methodology, and we issue serialized offsets 
on a transparent registry system.
    In the main forest project types in the U.S. are improved 
forest management, or IFM, reforestation, and avoided 
conversion. The vast majority of U.S. forest carbon projects 
are IFM.
    The first message that I would like to leave you with today 
is that a vibrant U.S. forest carbon market exists, which is 
already delivering carbon finance to a vast diversity of 
landowners. The U.S. forest carbon market includes more than 
200 projects on more than seven million acres across the 
country, and have issued close to 200 million tons of CO2 
emission reductions in the last decade.
    Projects are located in almost every forested region of the 
U.S., and almost every type of forest ownership class is 
represented in the carbon market, including industrial 
landowners, conservation organizations, family forest owners, 
and tribes. We are now seeing some State and municipal forests 
enter the market as well.
    The U.S. forest carbon has issued credits valued at almost 
$2 billion to forest landowners in the past 10 years. Carbon 
revenue is directly helping landowners meet a number of land 
management objectives, ranging from tribes using carbon finance 
to purchase ancestral lands or improve fire management; to 
companies using the finance to help manage land more 
sustainably, or to assist in conservation goals; or even to pay 
for small landowners' insurance or taxes or other family 
expenditures.
    I will give three brief examples. Across the country, 
state, county, and local governments own more than 80 million 
acres of timberland. That is an area larger than New Mexico, 
and represents huge potential for a new area of climate action. 
Michigan's Department of Natural Resources has already begun 
implementing the first State agency-led carbon project on 
commercially managed State forests.
    Tribes have also entered the U.S. carbon markets, with more 
than 20 indigenous groups directly benefiting from carbon 
finance.
    Finally, another area for growth in the carbon market is 
small-scale forest owners. Less than one percent of these 
forest owners currently participate in the carbon market, even 
though they own nearly 40 percent of the forests in the United 
States. Luckily, this is changing, and there are now emerging 
approaches to make the market more accessible to this important 
forest ownership class.
    The second message that I would like to leave you with is 
that demand for carbon credits is rapidly increasing and will 
continue to rise, with U.S. forest well positioned to benefit, 
but that the basis of this growth must be built on integrity. 
More than 1,500 companies have now set net zero targets, and 
demand for offsets is exponentially increasing to new, record 
level. This is good news for the U.S. forest carbon market. As 
demand for offsets grows, so too is demand for integrity. 
Companies want to know that their investments are leading to 
real results.
    The final message is that there is no need to start from 
scratch or reinvent the wheel. Market and related 
infrastructure is already in place, and is rapidly evolving and 
expanding to offer more opportunities. Disruption to the 
existing carbon market could have adverse effects on 
investments, private capital, and on landowners and other 
stakeholders already participating in this market. It is our 
hope that the government will support the growth and scaling of 
the forest carbon offsets market by working with the current 
market stakeholders and within the existing processes and 
frameworks.
    We look forward to working together to maintain momentum to 
increase benefits for all kinds of forest landowners and to 
adhere to high standards and integrity. Thank you so much for 
your time today.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Orrego can be found on page 
44 in the appendix.]

    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. We would now like 
to hear from Mr. Joe Fox. Welcome.

   STATEMENT OF JOE FOX, STATE FORESTER, FORESTRY DIVISION, 
    ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; PRESIDENT, NATIONAL 
     ASSOCIATION OF STATE FORESTERS, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

    Mr. Fox. Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman Stabenow, Ranking 
Member Boozman, and members of the Committee for holding the 
hearing today and for the opportunity to testify on behalf of 
the National Association of State Foresters. I am Joe Fox, 
Arkansas State Forester and NASF President.
    NASF represents the directors of forestry agencies in all 
50 States, eight territories, and the District of Columbia. 
State foresters deliver technical and financial assistance to 
private landowners who own about half of all the forests in the 
U.S. We also partner with Federal land management agencies 
through cooperative agreements and good neighbor authority to 
help manage national forests and conduct wildfire operations 
nationwide.
    State forestry agencies are uniquely positioned to address 
climate change, promote forest carbon sequestration efforts, 
and ensure greater forest resilience. One role that we play is 
that of advocate. We advocate for the inclusion of active 
forest management and Federal climate change policy and 
programming.
    There are many existing Federal programs that could enhance 
the role of forests as carbon sinks with additional funding and 
higher prioritization. They include the Forest Inventory 
Analysis Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, 
and the Forest Stewardship Program, and there are others. These 
programs serve to increase carbon storage by helping to improve 
the condition of our forests and maximize wood availability for 
forest product utilization.
    As you all know, forest products, like forests themselves, 
act as carbon sinks and have demonstrative climate benefits in 
many different applications, including building construction 
and energy generation. The efficacy of forest and forest 
products in addressing climate change depends on forest 
sustainability. Without active management, forests are less 
resilient to climate change and less effective at sequestering 
carbon.
    As State foresters, we know active forest management looks 
different in different forest types, different regions, and 
different communities. In Arkansas, where I am the State 
Forester, we harvested over 24 million tons of wood from the 
State's 19 million acres in 2019. It was a record year for us, 
and data from the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and 
Analysis Program shows our annual growth exceeded our harvest 
and mortality rates by 20 million tons. In some locales, 
harvesting trees on the scale we do in Arkansas is not 
feasible. Nine times out of ten this is because there are not 
enough markets for forest landowners to sell their timber into.
    This brings me to a critical point I want to stress to the 
Committee. Forest markets for both wood and carbon credits are 
critical to maintaining the health and sustainability of 
forests in the U.S. Wood markets, in particular, enable the 
carefully planned harvest of trees that is needed for forests 
to have appropriate stocking levels, balanced age classes, and 
species diversity. These managed forests are healthy forests, 
better able to withstand wildfire and pest, and more capable of 
providing clean air and clean water, wildlife habitat, 
recreational opportunities, and the countless other benefits of 
forests.
    In addition to promoting active forest management with 
Federal programming and policy, this Committee can support 
forest-based climate strategies by championing coordinated 
wildfire mitigation. To maintain our forest's carbon sinks we 
cannot let them be destroyed by out-of-control wildfires.
    We must reduce wildfire fuel loads in our forests. With 
thinning, harvests, prescribed fire, whatever the treatment, it 
is critical that hazardous fuels are reduced on at least five 
million acres each year, in addition to what we treat now. The 
Forest Service and NASF agree it will cost about $60 billion 
over the next 10 years to meet this goal. By making such 
significant investments in wildfire mitigation, this body can 
help maintain our forests as carbon sinks, create green jobs 
nationwide, and protect Americans from catastrophic wildfire.
    In closing, addressing climate change requires 
collaboration. NASF is a member of the Forest-Climate Working 
Group to advance climate solutions. I want to thank you all for 
your bipartisan work on climate solutions. To quote the Texas 
State Forester, ``Trees are the answer. What is your 
question?''
    I look forward to answering your questions today, and thank 
you again for the opportunity to testify.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Fox can be found on page 50 
in the appendix.]

    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you so much for your testimony. 
Last but not least, Dr. Tony Cheng. Welcome.

   STATEMENT OF TONY CHENG, Ph.D., DIRECTOR, COLORADO FOREST 
     RESTORATION INSTITUTE; PROFESSOR, FOREST & RANGELAND 
 STEWARDSHIP, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY, FORT COLLINS, COLORADO

    Mr. Cheng. Chairwoman Stabenow, Ranking Member Boozman, and 
members of the Committee, thank you very much for your 
invitation for me to speak today.
    The Colorado Forest Restoration Institute that I direct is 
one of three Southwest Ecological Restoration Institutes 
authorized by Congress back in 2004. CFRI is one of many 
programs at Colorado State University that develop and apply 
science-based decision support systems to address climate 
change for agriculture, natural resources, and forestry. 
Another example this Committee may be familiar with is the 
COMET project, which is developed by my CSU Soils and Crops 
colleagues in collaboration with the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture.
    I am here today to share a western perspective on this 
hearing's topic, and I will note that there are many 
perspectives. With the focus on the Rocky Mountain West, where 
Federal forests are prevalent and are being impacted by a 
succession of wildfires, insect outbreaks, and prolonged 
droughts.
    I will summarize my written testimony here in three points.
    My first point is that climate change is delivering a 
double blow to western Federal forests. The first hit is what 
scientists are calling ``compounding disturbances,'' where 
prolonged droughts, insect outbreaks, and wildfires are 
impacting forests at the same time, causing much of their 
stored carbon to be released into the atmosphere, especially in 
the form of wildfire smoke that we had been impacted by last 
summer.
    The second hit is that the changing climate is inhibiting 
forest regeneration after wildfires in many areas. Forest 
recovery can take centuries, if at all. In the meantime, this 
green infrastructure to mitigate climate change.
    My second point is that the work needed to make western 
Federal forests more resilient involves a portfolio of actions 
that can take many years to accomplish. Multi-year funding 
programs such as the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration 
Program and Joint Chiefs Partnership provide the stability and 
certainty needed by forest managers and their partners to plan 
and implement work at the scale needed to make an impact. 
Senator Bennet saw the results of this work firsthand in 
northern Colorado during his visit to the Cameron Peak fire a 
couple of weeks ago.
    I want to acknowledge and credit the work of this Committee 
to reauthorize the CFLR program in Fiscal Year 2018. The Joint 
Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership Act that Senator 
Bennet and Senator Hoeven introduced earlier this month would 
provide a substantial boost to the long-term investments needed 
to achieve work at this scale.
    Restarting those western forests not regenerating after 
wildfires will also be a long-term proposition. The proposed 
REPLANT Act, introduced by Senator Stabenow and Senator 
Portman, and its companion bill in the House, would provide the 
U.S. Forest Service with the needed resources to plant well 
over 1 billion trees in the next decade.
    My third and last point is that sustaining western Federal 
forest as green infrastructure requires sustaining a 
corresponding social infrastructure. Across the West, 
representatives from various government, non-governmental, 
community-based, and private sector entities are working 
collaboratively to craft and implement portfolios of climate-
forward forest management work that are based in locally 
relevant science, tailored to the specific ecological, 
economic, and social context, and collectively monitored to 
ensure that outcomes are being met.
    This front-end collaboration could be thought of as an 
essential social infrastructure to make our forests resilient. 
However, the costs of sustaining this collaboration are not 
explicitly funded. Programs like CFLRP and Joint Chiefs 
dedicate funding for implementing shovel-ready projects but do 
not support the social infrastructure necessary to get the 
shovel ready in the first place. If the pipeline of climate-
forward forest management on Federal lands and adjacent land 
ownerships is to expand, there needs to be sustained 
investments in this front-end collaborative work.
    Additionally, Federal land agencies own social 
infrastructure and human resources have been decimated by 
decades of divestment. The proposed Outdoor Restoration and 
Partnership Act would provide needed funds to strengthen the 
social infrastructure needed to make western forests more 
resilient to, and help mitigate climate change.
    Again, I want to thank the Committee for inviting me this 
morning to present at this hearing, and I am happy to answer 
any questions you might have.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Cheng can be found on page 
74 in the appendix.]

    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much, and thank you to 
all of our witnesses this morning.
    Let me now start with Mr. Harris. I am really glad that 
your testimony highlighted the tremendous opportunity of using 
mass timber in commercial building. As you know, we had a 
bipartisan bill, Senator Crapo and I, that we put into the 2018 
Farm Bill, and we are seeing a lot of very positive things 
happening.
    You were talking in your testimony, though, about building 
on the Timber Innovation Act, and I wonder if you might talk a 
little bit more about what you would like to see us do to build 
on that and really the promise of this technology, going 
forward.
    Mr. Harris. Thank you. I think the industry, the mass 
timber industry, has greatly benefited from the progress and 
the recognition that the act provided, specifically architects, 
designers, and most importantly probably building codes have 
been addressed to allow for mass timber construction, and that 
was probably the largest mover. It impacts the current building 
that is going on right now. I believe there are over 1,000 
projects in every State that are using mass timber. We feel 
like that can double easily over the next few years, and so 
continued research, design improvements, and just knowledge of 
getting the concept of mass timber out I think is very 
important to the continued success of people recognizing all 
the benefits that come from it.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Ms. Dillard, I am 
really glad to know Sustainable Forestry and African American 
Land Retention Network is so engaged in this important 
discussion, and I am particularly glad to have your support for 
the Rural Forest Markets Act and the REPLANT Act. Could you 
talk more about some of the challenges and barriers that small-
acreage and minority forest landowners face in entering new 
markets like the forest carbon market, and managing their 
forestland in general?
    Ms. Dillard. I would be happy to. Thank you for the 
question. One of the barriers is carbon markets are complex, 
so, you know, sitting with small family forest owners and 
explaining to them the complexities of carbon markets require 
education and outreach and discussion. That is one barrier.
    The second barrier are the upfront costs, you know, from 
hiring a forester to mapping out the activity to implement the 
forest management plan associated with carbon markets or 
support carbon markets is, I would say, a second major barrier.
    The third is while my family, thankfully, was able to 
resolve their property issues and building trusts, we build 
trust with USDA, that is not true for many underserved 
landowners. That is typically another key barrier. That is why 
legislation like the Rural Forest Markets Act is so important. 
It helps unlock the private equity to help with upfront costs, 
so my family and families like mine can afford to participate 
in carbon markets.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. I look forward to 
working with you on all these issues.
    Mr. Fox, I appreciate again your support and your testimony 
for our bipartisan REPLANT Act. Could you talk more about why 
clearing the reforestation backlog in our national forestlands 
is so critical right now? I know you spoke about it, but, what 
types of opportunities do you see for State foresters to engage 
and help with that effort as well?
    Mr. Fox. Well, with the good neighbor authority and other 
authorities, we can help our National Forest partners replant 
those places that have been denuded by catastrophic wildfire 
and other reasons. We also have tree nurseries, seedling 
nurseries. We have one here in Arkansas, and we are going to 
need a lot of help expanding those nurseries to meet demand for 
billions of trees, not millions but billions of trees. That 
backlog is going to require State forestry nurseries, U.S. 
Forest Service nurseries to produce the trees to plant.
    There are a lot of opportunities. There is a lot of good 
collaborations with others helping with growing the trees, with 
planting the trees. To have the immigration, to all of us to 
have the workers that we need to be--I have forgotten the 
designation of the immigration place. In any case, we need 
those workers to plant the trees as well.
    Those things--the trees, the workers to plant them, and 
cooperation with the Forest Service and others are the 
ingredients to be successful.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you so much. Senator Boozman.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Orrego, 
Winrock's American Carbon Registry was founded in 1996 as the 
first private voluntary gas registry in the world. You yourself 
have over 20 years of experience in this space. Suffice it to 
say, you and Winrock are not new to the carbon and related 
markets in the forest sector.
    Would you share your recommendations on what you think is 
needed, or perhaps not needed, from the Federal Government in 
this voluntary market space as it relates to forestry?
    Ms. Orrego. Thank you, Senator. I am happy to answer the 
question. As I mentioned, there is unprecedented demand for 
offsets, and to really scale up the volume of offsets coming 
from U.S. forests, a lot of work has to be done and a lot of 
capital is needed.
    I think there is an important role for the Federal 
Government to play to support the growth and scaling of the 
forest carbon market, and that could be by providing capacity 
building support or through loans, as referenced in the Rural 
Forest Markets Act. Those loans could go to companies and 
organizations who are aggregating and providing services to 
landowners or directly to landowners, or potentially for 
expanding nursery production, as I understand that that is a 
barrier to expanding reforestation efforts in the United 
States.
    However, I do want to reiterate, and as I stated in my 
testimony, there is no need to reinvent the wheel here. The 
carbon market is operating already, and it is growing rapidly, 
and so we recommend that any role that the government plays 
will work to complement the carbon market and the existing 
framework. Thank you.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you very much. Mr. Fox, we all know 
that wildfires can be enormous carbon emission events, in 
addition to wildfire, pests, and diseases that can devastate 
healthy forests and make timber from those forests 
unmarketable. Active forest management, including prescribed 
fire and mechanical treatments, is critical to decreasing the 
frequency and scope of these events and protecting the overall 
health of our forests.
    Mr. Fox, in addition to mitigating wildfire and protecting 
against pests and diseases, what role do you perceive active 
management having as it relates to carbon sequestration in the 
growing wood products industry, including mass timber?
    Mr. Fox. Well, as you know, Senator, I like to say healthy 
forests need healthy markets. Healthy forests begat clean 
water, clean air, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, and 
all those things. That is being redundant, actually. Forests 
are both-and, not either-or. While we harvest and thin our 
forests, that helps the remaining trees to grow. It gives light 
to the ground, lets those plants come up, express themselves, 
that the turkeys like, and hunters like turkeys, and the 
insects like. All those things in our ecological system do 
better when the trees are thinned. Also the young trees, 
whether they are plantation trees or whether they are naturally 
regenerated, store more carbon than older trees.
    All trees have a lifecycle; they get old. Just like people 
do, and the older the tree, the less carbon is stored. We need 
those variations, diversity of age classes, we need diversity 
of structure in the forest, for all those things. Young, 
vigorous, healthy forests store more carbon than any other kind 
of forest.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you very much. Ms. Dillard, you 
mentioned the heirs' property, which again is something that I 
am very interested in. Tell me, though, would it be helpful if 
you doubled the capital gains tax in regard to that? Also, if 
you wanted to retire and sell your property to your son or 
maybe a partner, is that a helpful thing to our foresters, 
people in your situation, your fellow foresters, your 
neighbors, going from 23 percent to 43 percent?
    Ms. Dillard. Senator, I would love to give you an answer, 
if I may work on an answer for you and circle back, if that is 
okay?
    Senator Boozman. I appreciate that. Again--let me ask Mr. 
Fox the same question.
    Mr. Fox. Senator, if you could guide me through the 
question one more time.
    Senator Boozman. How is it going to help the forest 
industry if we raise capital gains from 23 percent to 43 
percent? What effect would that have on forestry, and then also 
the stepped-up basis in the sense of, again, what would that do 
with transfer of property?
    Mr. Fox. Well, any raise in the capital gains tax is going 
to go hard against family forest landowners, and it is going to 
make it harder generationally. Either timber will not be cut in 
order not to have the tax applied, or it is going to be cut 
really quickly before the tax is raised. A raise in the capital 
gains tax without a stepped-up basis is, frankly, devastating 
to family forest landowners.
    Senator Boozman. Good. Thank you.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Just for the 
knowledge of the members, Senator Bennet is next, and then 
Senator Fischer and Senator Smith. That is the order that I 
have at the moment. Senator Bennet.
    Senator Bennet. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Cheng, last 
December a group of forest policy experts sent our Committee a 
letter outlining the forest management and wildfire challenges 
in the West. They noted that higher temperatures, more severe 
drought, and longer fire seasons, all driven by climate change, 
pose a threat to community safety, public health, and our 
watersheds. I think you described these as compounding 
disturbances in your testimony. The group suggested investing 
$40 to $60 billion over the next decade to accelerate action 
and make our forests more resilient.
    In April, I introduced a bill with Senator Wyden, the 
Outdoor Restoration Partnership Act, that provides a framework 
to make this type of investment in forest health. If we can 
target resources to high-priority areas and partner with 
states, tribes, municipalities and landowners we could build 
climate resilience and create millions of jobs in the process.
    Dr. Cheng, given your experience at the local level and 
working across boundaries, what should this Committee keep in 
mind when considering a major investment in forest restoration? 
For example, what infrastructure exists to support forest 
restoration and wildfire mitigation in the West? What are some 
of the gaps and what are some of the likely challenges?
    Mr. Cheng. Madam Chair, Senator Bennet, thank you for that 
question. I will first preface my comments saying that the 
costs of these fires, in particular, but also just the loss of 
forests as a result of a variety of mortality events, these are 
billion-dollar problems, and how we have addressed them, at 
least in the West in Federal forest lands is almost like 
nickel-and-diming it. We really lack that upfront investment 
for that front-end collaborative work to really build the 
social capacity, the social acceptance, the science basis for 
where we need to do that work at the scale we need to do it.
    A lot of that, I would definitely want to see that 
investment provided to, especially local community-based 
organizations that are really at the forefront of convening and 
coordinating a lot of the multi-stakeholder collaboratives that 
we are seeing. They are really operating on a shoestring, but 
they are really bearing the brunt of this issue and trying to 
create that pipeline to work at the scale.
    The second is that we are not only facing a backlog of 
reforestation but also facing a backlog in terms of prescribed 
fire as an important tool to really mitigate those large, 
catastrophic fires. My colleague, Dr. Courtney Schultz at 
Colorado State University has provided research as well as 
testimony to Congress, is that one of the biggest gaps and 
biggest bottlenecks for scaling up the prescribed fire programs 
that we really need is simply a lack of horsepower, the lack of 
human resources and the people with the training and 
qualifications, and basically a prescribed fire work force. I 
think that would be able to complement a lot of the other work 
forces that we also need to stand up--the tree-planting work 
force, that State Forester Fox had mentioned.
    The last point is that, especially here in the 
Intermountain West, where we really do not have very great 
forest products markets, the kind of industry and operations 
that we have might not initially be at the scale of the work or 
be able to accommodate the kind of materials that can provide 
that economic incentive back to forestland management.
    Really standing up the kinds of infrastructure and the kind 
of operations that need to work at the scale, in the places 
that need to occur, also need a good lift. We have sawmills 
that are kind of scattered. They are few and far between. The 
distances for hauling material is a huge barrier. To be able to 
have better distributed forest wood utilization industries and 
operators would be a great benefit.
    Senator Bennet. Thank you, Dr. Cheng. I want to just leave 
my colleagues with this thought, because, as I said, Secretary 
Vilsack was out. Sixty billion dollars sounds like a lot of 
money, and I know that it does. We are spending that money 
anyway. We are just spending it fighting fires. It costs us, 
for every single acre--and we heard this the other day out 
there, from the Forest Service---every acre that we treat costs 
$1,500 to treat. Every acre that we deal with in a forest fire 
costs us $50,000. We are profoundly wasting the American 
people's money, and by doing it we are not creating any of the 
jobs that Dr. Cheng just talked about. We could create a bunch 
of jobs on the front end that would be sustaining and useful to 
the economy, I think. Anyway, thank you.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you. I could not agree with you 
more. I mean, just the numbers alone say it, and that does not 
count the devastation or what is happening to people in terms 
of the forest fires.
    Senator Bennet. Not to mention what both of you guys talked 
about, which is the lack of sequestration of carbon. I mean, 
this is all of that CO2 is going up into atmosphere.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. This is why we are doing the hearing. 
This is why we are glad you are chair of the Subcommittee, and 
I look forward to working with you on this. Senator Fischer.
    Senator Fischer. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Fox, I wanted 
to ask you about a project in Nebraska that has huge potential 
for forestry and the agriculture sector in addressing climate 
change. The Nebraska Forest Service and industry partners have 
started the Great Plans Biochar Initiative, which helps improve 
awareness in market development of biochar in the Great Plans. 
The Nebraska Forest Service conducted a pilot study to examine 
potential benefits of providing biochar as a feed supplement to 
cattle to reduce ethane emissions and increase animal 
productivity. Can you talk about the results of that pilot and 
the potential climate benefits?
    Mr. Fox. I can, Senator. Although I am a tree guy--I am not 
a cattle guy--but isn't it interesting that our forests can 
help agricultural productivity, whether it is biochar bleeding 
into the ground as a soul amendment to row crop farmers or 
whether biochar is blended into the feed of the cattle. That is 
the pilot project in Nebraska. Biochar was blended into the 
feed for cattle. Methane production decreased by over 10 
percent. Growth of the cattle increased, or production of the 
cattle increased by almost 10 percent, and it is really pretty 
cool. You know, I had not thought about this myself.
    In Nebraska, or whether you are cow-raising in Arkansas, it 
a good thing for a forest product, and it is a new forest 
product. There are many other forest products, but this one is 
really an innovative example of how we can use our trees. Thank 
you, Senator.
    Senator Fischer. Thank you. Also, how important are locally 
made conservation goals and plans in managing privately owned 
forests, and how best could the Federal Government help private 
forest owners manage their forests without imposing or 
requiring Federal conservation requirements and standards?
    Mr. Fox. Well, thank you, Senator. Again, I was on the 
Jefferson County Conservation District about 20 years ago. I 
was the token forester on an all-farmer board. I appreciated 
being there, and I am very aware of--well, NASF partners with 
the National Association of Conservation Districts. The local 
level, at the local level, conservation districts is where 
conservation planning can go. In Arkansas, we have our State 
Forest Action Plan, mandated by the 2008 Farm Bill, and reupped 
after 10 years. All States do that, and we use stakeholders 
like the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts, a lot 
of other stakeholders to plan what we are going to do.
    Then at that local level, conservation districts felt NRCS 
direct EQIP funds--environmental quality incentive program 
funds--toward the farmers. That is where the rubber meets the 
road, is where those producers used the moneys. Arkansas is 57 
percent forested, and we have got 75 counties. Each county has 
a conservation district. Those counties choose different things 
to apply the EQIP funds. Their priorities are different, 
depending on what is going on in their county.
    It is the best way. We are a voluntary State here in 
Arkansas, and it is the best voluntary way that private 
landowners do conservation work. Thanks.
    Senator Fischer. Thank you. Mr. Harris, I understand you 
are a board member of the National Alliance of Forest Owners. 
Is that correct?
    Mr. Harris. That is correct.
    Senator Fischer. I would ask you that same question, how 
the Federal Government can help private forest owners manage 
their forest without a lot of requirements or imposing a lot of 
regulations. Then I also noticed, when we heard about the 
stepped-up basis and the issue there, you were nodding your 
head. Would you also like to comment on that?
    Mr. Harris. I guess I will start with, you know, as a 
forester and a proud one, what we are hoping to highlight today 
is that our organizations and our companies do a lot of good. I 
think that you have to think of our Nation's forests as a 
mosaic. One size does not fit all.
    I think that on the private working forest level the 
markets speak loudly to what benefits us and how we like to 
manage our forests, and what ultimately we are working toward.
    You know, conservation focus is interesting because, as Mr. 
Fox said, when we know what is important in specific areas--and 
I think that is important, is that, you know, at the big 
holistic macro level is one thing, but when we can drive down 
to specific areas or specific focus I think there are a lot of 
opportunities to do a lot of good.
    I can use an example, in the State of Georgia, where groups 
like The Nature Conservancy have targeted and are looking to 
protect gopher tortoise habitat. Well, companies like mine and 
the other ones that I work with, if we understand what the 
objectives are we can work toward, because we have this mosaic 
of forests, we can work toward managing where we are not only 
growing our trees and doing that well but also helping with 
conservation. I think that on the private working level it is 
very specific as you go down to each individual area.
    As far as taxes, I think that the one thing that concerns 
me with that--and I was shaking my head--is that I think that a 
lot of forest landowners, especially family landowners, are 
what we would probably like to say, they are land rich and cash 
poor. Tax policies that raise those rates on landowners force 
them to make bad decisions, if they have to pay a tax bill 
because of tax legislation.
    I would be concerned about tax changes that raise those 
rates. The landowners do not have the cash to pay for them, and 
what we see in our industry is that forces families to either 
sell land or sell timber that they do not want to in order to 
pay those tax bills, and that is why I was nodding my head yes. 
I do think it is a very important consideration.
    Senator Fischer. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. You are welcome. Thank you. Senator 
Smith, and then we will have Senator Tuberville. Senator Smith?
    Senator Smith. Thank you so much, Chairwoman Stabenow and 
Ranking Member Boozman for pulling this Committee together. I 
know that the 30,000 people in Minnesota that work in the 
forest products sector in our State are so happy to see a 
hearing on forestry in the Ag Committee. You know, I also know 
from them that this past year with COVID has been a challenging 
year in so many different ways, and just like so many other 
industries around the country, timber harvesting and hauling 
has had a difficult year, and it has been a real challenge.
    I want to just note that I am grateful that I had a chance 
to work with Senator Collins on my Loggers Relief Act, which I 
introduced last year, and we got included in the year-end 
package. This bill is providing funding for direct assistance 
to loggers and log haulers impacted by the pandemic, so an 
important part of the forest product sector.
    I would like to spend my time today with all of you--
welcome to the panel; it is great to be with you--talking about 
this concept of carbon sinks and carbon markets. You know, I 
think a lot of times when we talk about getting to a net zero 
economy we do not spend enough time talking about the net part 
of that. You know, when we are adding carbon into the 
atmosphere we also, at the same time, can be capturing and 
storing carbon from the atmosphere. Our forests are a giant 
reservoir of captured carbon, and they need to be a crucial 
part of our strategy for addressing climate change, and doing 
that in ways that are creating jobs and opportunities for 
Americans.
    That is what we need to do, right? We need to dramatically 
reduce carbon in our atmosphere in a way that creates jobs and 
works for forest owners and operators. I think this has to be 
part of our strategy.
    This brings me to the question of carbon markets. Voluntary 
carbon markets seem to be, could be a huge opportunity for 
forest landowners and help to contribute to our overall goals 
and strategy, creating also ways for them to earn revenue. I 
have heard from folks in Minnesota that the private carbon 
offset market is a little bit of the Wild West when it comes to 
how it works. It has got a lot of momentum but not a lot of 
guardrails that are actually protecting landowners.
    I am really interested in diving into this a bit, and I 
would like to start with Ms. Orrego--and I hope I am saying 
your name correctly--and Dr. Cheng. How do you see this? How 
can we ensure the integrity of forest carbon stocks and support 
the participation in carbon markets in a way that is actually 
good for landowners?
    Ms. Orrego. Thank you, Senator. I am happy to start. You 
know, we also welcome scrutiny. As I said in my testimony, 
growth and long-term sustainability of the carbon market does 
depend on integrity. We are always taking on board any 
criticisms and innovating and improving our processes and our 
requirements, based on the latest science and technology, to 
ensure that those emission reductions are real, credible, and 
verifiable.
    Unfortunately, some of the critics and the critical 
coverage has limited sights on a few cherrypicked examples, 
rather than examining the broader impact of the forest carbon 
market, which is a hugely positive story that we are trying to 
get out there and tell that story a little bit better. We 
really feel like there are guardrails. We see a lot of 
momentum. It is picking up quickly, and we are happy to work 
with the Forest Centers of Minnesota to tackle some of their 
concerns.
    Senator Smith. Thank you. Dr. Cheng?
    Mr. Cheng. Thank you for the question, Senator Smith, and 
this is a little bit outside my expertise so I would have to 
defer to experts like Ms. Orrego. I think one of the challenges 
that we have out here in the West is, at least in my State, in 
Colorado and in other States, our forests are losing carbon 
faster than they are sequestering. I think there are lots of 
opportunities to look at ways in which carbon margins can be 
brought back as an investment tool, as an economic incentive.
    Again, I think the ways in which we can calculate 
sequestration versus loss is something that I know is very 
controversial, and I think a lot more maybe investment into the 
science of how we actually monitor that and capture that is 
also needed.
    Senator Smith. Right. Well, thank you very much. I think 
that there is a lot of power and a huge amount of potential on 
this, and I look forward to working on this with Minnesota 
forest product owners and folks all over the country, because I 
think it is an important part of our strategy.
    Thank you very much, Chair Stabenow.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you so much. Senator Tuberville 
and then Senator Warnock will be next.
    Senator Tuberville. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you 
for having this today.
    You know, Alabama has 23.1 million acres of forest. 
Seventy-one percent of our State is forestry. Ninety-four 
percent of those forests are owned by more than 250,000 private 
forest owners, including me. As of 2019, Alabama has the 
largest inventory of standing timber ever recorded, 42.2 
billion cubic feet. Since 2001, we have seen 37.3 percent 
increase in volume of standing timber. Ecosystem carbon in 
Alabama's forest carbon and soil above and below biomass dead 
wood and litter has increased from 1 billion metric tons in 
1990 to 1.4 billion metric tons in 2019. Alabama's forests 
removed 41 percent of all CO2 emissions in the State, and 
Alabama's forests currently store 47 years of all CO2 emissions 
produced in the State.
    Thank you all for being here today. Mr. Harris, forest 
landowners are capable of growing more timber in their forests. 
We have the tools and technologies to increase the amount of 
timber growing in our forests, if there is a market for the 
products being produced.
    To a good Auburn man, War Eagle, what suggestions do you 
have to encourage stronger markets and provide voluntary 
incentives to landowners to implement forest management 
policies?
    Mr. Harris. War Eagle, Senator. I think, you know, Alabama 
has a great story, and Alabama does a great job. We own 22,000 
acres in the State. I think that the forest industry is strong, 
alive, and healthy.
    What we are doing right now is growing a lot of timber, 
more timber than we use. The main thing that we can do, within 
the entire nation, really, is to create healthy markets, 
invigorate them, support them, and that will benefit forest 
landowners.
    I think the biggest one that we see and the biggest 
opportunity currently right now, which is a win-win for this 
Committee, in particular, is mass timber. Using more wood that 
becomes permanently sequestered in a building that people 
occupy and enjoy is something very unique and special about our 
business. A new market created for timber that consumes more 
wood will definitely benefit landowners in the end.
    Senator Tuberville. Thank you very much. Mr. Fox, in your 
testimony you discussed the advancement of cross-laminated 
timber. Down in Dothan, Alabama, there is a SmartLam facility 
that produces mass timber products. From your ample experience 
in the forestry sector, can you explain how building with wood, 
like mass wood timber, offers a solution, not only for the 
carbon sequestered in the long-lived wood product, but also how 
mass timber products offer management opportunities, especially 
for small-diameter trees?
    Mr. Fox. Surely, Senator. Thank you for the question. I am 
remiss if I do not point out that some of the best people in 
Alabama were born in Arkansas.
    Having said such, CLT, cross-laminated timber, is a 
terrific product. It cuts down labor costs by two-thirds when 
you are putting up a building like the dorm at the University 
of Arkansas. StructureLam is also completing--in fact, they are 
doing some soft opening dry runs on a cross-laminated timber 
plant in Conway, Arkansas, just north of Little Rock, to supply 
the 350-acre Walmart campus that is to be built in Bentonville 
very soon.
    We are excited about that. That is jobs. Any place that a 
lumber mill, a sawmill, has the ability to sell their products 
is good for the land, for forest landowners. As I have already 
stated, we are overproducing. We are growing 20 million tons 
more in my State than are being harvested, and the harvest is 
at record levels.
    We have learned how to grow. Now we are going to have to 
learn how to balance the growth to the markets. Without that 
balance, sooner or later there are too many trees, it is too 
dense, the bugs come or wildfire comes, and we have 
catastrophic events.
    Anything we can do--and right now those 2x4s, 2x6s, 2x8s 
are used in cross-laminated timber. Small-diameter timber does 
not have a home. There are less paper mills in my State, and I 
think in your State. There are 15 less paper mills than there 
were about 20 years ago in Arkansas. They use the small-
diameter timber. We need pellets in that market. That uses 
small-diameter timber. We are overcrowding with those six-inch 
diameter and eight-inch diameter trees that do not quite make 
it to saw logs. We need to be able to thin those too.
    Whichever size, whatever species, it is always good to have 
a market, because conservation without case is just 
conversation. Thank you.
    Senator Tuberville. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam 
Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you. Senator Warnock.
    Senator Warnock. Thank you so very much. Good to follow my 
colleague from Alabama. If you are not born in Georgia, I guess 
Alabama will do. Thank you so much, Chairwoman Stabenow, for 
holding this hearing on a topic that is important to all of us.
    I am proud to say that Georgia is the No. 1 forestry State 
in the Nation, providing directly downstream jobs to over 
141,000 Georgians and others across the Nation. Georgia is home 
to over 22 million acres of privately owned forestry land, 
forest land, generating an annual economic impact of $36.5 
billion. This industry is an economic driver for the rural 
communities throughout Georgia.
    Georgia, on the other hand, is also a State of incredible 
growth. Our population is currently over 10.7 million people, 
representing an 11 percent population increase in the last 
decade, and much of this change is driven by growth in and 
around the metro Atlanta area.
    Sometimes in my travels and in politics I hear folks 
talking about rural-urban divide in Georgia. I think that there 
are plenty of opportunities to increase economic connections 
between Atlanta, metro Atlanta, and the rural parts of our 
State, and to do so in a way that centers climate-smart growth, 
that creates jobs and opportunities while being kind to our 
planet.
    Mr. Harris, you have a long history of working on forestry 
issues in Georgia. How can population growth in a city like 
Atlanta actually provide economic opportunities for rural 
communities in Georgia who rely on timber production?
    Mr. Harris. Thank you, Senator. At Jamestown, I think one 
of the most exciting things that we have seen is this mass 
timber awakening, if you will, and we are very excited about 
the opportunity to tie our commercial real estate business 
together with our timberland business. It just makes sense.
    Mass timber, obviously, if used more in construction, would 
help a lot of things that we are talking about today, but right 
now the industry is emerging. If we wanted to build mass timber 
buildings in Atlanta, Savannah, Brunswick, we would probably 
have to source that timber and that timber production from out 
of State, in the case of Georgia, and I think that is the case 
for many States. We do not have a lot of mass timber 
manufacturing plants. We have a lot of sawmills, but we do not 
have the plants that put together the mass timber panels.
    If we believe that using wood is good, and it is a great 
solution for urban housing and construction in commercial 
spaces as well, and that starts to take hold, that will likely 
lead to manufacturing plants that are more local, and I think 
that benefits all States, really, because it could really be 
put up anywhere, but in particular I think that urban-rural 
interface between building in more of an environment and the 
use of mass timber and wood would benefit Atlantans, in 
particular.
    Senator Warnock. Mm-hmm. In Atlanta it is accompanied by an 
emphasis on sustainable development and green materials. I 
think that is something that all of us have to be concerned 
about. Is Georgia's forestry sector prepared to meet the 
increasing demand for climate-smart products, and how can 
Congress be helpful?
    Mr. Harris. I think Georgia is absolutely prepared and 
ready to take this challenge on. As a Georgian, and as a 
forester just in general, I think all States are prepared to 
take on this challenge. We do amazing things with our forests, 
which, you know, basically providing 90 percent of what the 
U.S. needs as far as wood products and forest products that 
people use every day. We do that very well, and we are 
extremely well positioned to leverage off of that to building a 
green economy. I think we are right in the forefront of that.
    States that are heavily forested, like Georgia, are ready, 
willing, and able to contribute to positive environmental 
impacts, and we are quite proud of that. We honestly, would 
love to talk more about that and share more about that, and I 
think Congress can help with that, with research and study. I 
think that is the one thing that is lacking right now. Things 
like the FIA, the Forest Inventory Act, where we are measuring
    [audio interruption] are growing sustainably would be a big 
thing for us and Congress could do.
    I think investments into research and study and adding 
credibility to our sector would great benefit.
    Senator Warnock. Great. Well, thank you so much, Mr. 
Harris. I appreciate your work in Georgia's forestry sector. 
This challenge around climate change is a challenge, but it 
also created economic opportunities for our forestry sector to 
make smart investments, and I think it helps Georgians, both in 
rural Georgia and in our urban centers. I appreciate the 
opportunity to talk to you today.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Warnock. 
Senator Thune.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member 
Boozman, for having today's hearing, and I want to thank our 
panelists as well before the Committee for your input on this 
issue.
    Mr. Fox, the Black Hills National Forest is a critical 
component of South Dakota's economy that supports recreation, 
agriculture, and resource development. The forest also helps 
support the local timber industry and supply lumber, which is 
in high demand right now, I think, as we all know.
    Unfortunately, a sawmill in Hill City, South Dakota, is 
closing due to lack of available timber. The sawmill closure 
follows cuts in recent years to the Black Hills National Forest 
timber sale program, which the mill relies on for its supply. 
The mill closure will not only result in the loss of more than 
100 jobs, which is a huge impact on that small community, it 
would also have lasting effects on the community and the 
regional economy.
    I am a long-time supporter of proactive forest management 
to help mitigate the risk of wildfires, maintain healthy 
forests, and support rural economies. Mr. Fox, could you talk 
about the importance of forest management and the benefits that 
it provides, and are there ways that Congress can make forest 
management more effective?
    Mr. Fox. Thank you, Senator Thune. I would love to talk 
about that.
    You know, if all forests have a growth rate, it might be, 
if it is a very young forest, it can be well above 10 percent. 
If it is an older forest, it goes down. An older forest in 
Arkansas that is not growing too well might be six percent, 
might be even two percent. When you do not harvest, when you 
just let the trees grow and get older and slower and 
susceptible to disease and wildfire, they are going to slow 
down.
    One way to keep the forest growing faster and more vibrant 
is to harvest timber in it, whether it is public land or 
private land. It does not matter who owns the land. The 
silviculture works the same way.
    We need those forest markets, and we need to be open to the 
forest markets--let's say the Black Hills--in order to get the 
growth, the young, vibrant growth that any forest needs. 
Whether it is ponderosa pine or whether it is southern yellow 
loblolly pine or whether it is cherry bark oak or post oak, 
they all need room to grow, and we need a good balance of those 
younger trees.
    That is part of the forest management story. We must manage 
to keep our forests resilient, and to keep them resilient they 
need young stocking coming on. All the stands do not have to be 
the same age or the same stocking. We can have a lot of 
variability between stands within one forest.
    I hope that answers your question.
    Senator Thune. Yes, it does. Thank you. I just could not 
agree more, and I just think those management practices that 
maintain a healthy forest are so essential, and especially true 
right now in the Black Hills, where, as I mentioned, there have 
been consistent cutbacks or attempts to cut back the forest 
harvest and to get away from management, which, in the end, 
creates a much healthier forest. I hope the Forest Service here 
in Washington, DC. is listening to the needs that many of our 
forests have around the country.
    I do not have a lot of time, but I want to recognize this 
hearing rightfully recognizes the role that forests serve in 
carbon sinks, and I hope one of the takeaways today is the 
importance of forest management timber harvest and replanting 
to maintain healthy, resilient forests, especially given the 
higher rate of carbon capture of younger trees.
    In order to leverage these natural carbon sinks, however, 
we need to ensure that we are actually able to replant trees 
after a disturbance, such as a wildfire or a hurricane. 
According to the Forest Resources Association, there is rough a 
three- to five-year backlog in forest fire remediation, which 
has gone unaddressed because of the shortage of workers, 
including H-2B visa workers.
    Could any of you quickly--I do not have a lot of time--
speak to the labor challenges that we are facing out there to 
help restore our forests?
    Mr. Fox. I would be happy to try that. H-2B visas are vital 
to our planting crews and the companies that plant behind 
either harvesting jobs or wildfire. Without enough workers, it 
is very strained right now to find enough workers, seasonally, 
to do the planting. You do not want to plant in the hot time of 
the year. You have got to plant in the cool, dormant season of 
the year. That, again, does not really matter which part of the 
country you are in.
    Those visas are imperative to the workers that we need to 
replenish our forests.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much, Senator Thune. We 
have now Senator Brown, then Senator Braun, and Senator 
Gillibrand. Senator Brown?
    Senator Brown. Thank you, Madam Chair. Much of the 
testimony today is focused on the carbon storage potential of 
forests and smaller timber stands, but tree cover in urban 
settings is also crucial in keeping our cities and towns 
livable in a warming climate.
    I read, four or five years ago, a book called ``Urban 
Forest,'' and it pointed out, if I can remember, fairly 
precisely, the numbers. Tree cover in Beverly Hills from aerial 
photographs exceeded 50 percent of the land. In South Central 
L.A. it was about 12 or 13 or 14 percent. You can see what that 
means to all kinds of issues, from clean water and soil and air 
to just livability with temperatures and all the things.
    Could any of the panelists, anyone who wants to answer 
this, speak to the benefits of tree cover for those living in 
cities and towns, and, at the same time, the particular 
challenges of growing and maintaining canopy in cities? Whoever 
feels most eater to answer that question, or address that 
question.
    Mr. Fox. Well, thank you, Senator, and I think I am talking 
too much, and I will be happy for my colleagues to chime in. I 
think I can say all State forestry agencies have an urban 
forestry program. If you believe in climate-smart forestry, 
which applies to rural forestry, it also applies to urban 
forestry. Those benefits are huge. They slow down water. They 
shade buildings, and I think it is like 15 percent less cost 
for utilities when buildings are shaded. There is an aesthetic 
value, a psychological value, for just having trees in your 
neighborhood. It is a calmer neighborhood. Small shops like 
trees in front of their places of business. Shoppers are more 
inclined to buy when there are trees there.
    We do quite a lot with our nursery business to provide 
trees for the urban setting. There are even uses for urban 
trees that die or need to be removed for road widening. There 
are all sorts of benefits for healthy, urban forests. A lot of 
work goes into that, and State forestry agencies step up to the 
plate there.
    Senator Brown. Well, I thank you. The full legacy of racist 
policies like redlining is all too clear in the location of 
urban heat islands today. You suggest that. Studies show that 
these heat islands are concentrated in neighborhoods with the 
fewest trees. I am working on legislation to improve tree 
canopy in neighborhoods that have been cutoff from investment 
because of these policies. I hope to work with members of this 
Committee to ensure that the worst climate impacts are not 
relegated to the most vulnerable communities, that maybe 
planting new trees in cities like Cleveland or maintaining 
existing canopy. It is clear to me that the Forest Service can 
and should play a role in helping communities across the 
country make these investments.
    The second part of the question, in the last couple of 
minutes. What are the particular challenges of growing and 
maintaining canopies and canopy in cities, if someone could try 
to address that for me? If nobody does, it is back to Mr. Fox.
    Mr. Fox. Here in Arkansas, being able to take those 
measurements and know what the tree canopy is, that is what our 
urban foresters do. They know what their canopy is. It might be 
25 percent. It might be 60 percent. Then they can plan how to 
upgrade the canopy in their city or a certain neighborhood. 
First, first, first, you have got to measure, and you have got 
to know what you are working with. There is quite a bit of that 
that goes on all through the cities and towns in the United 
States.
    It is quite a large industry, to be frank, about 
maintaining, planting and maintaining urban forests.
    Senator Brown. Thank you. Dr. Cheng, my last question is, 
can you talk about potential work force needs as it relates to 
urban forestry?
    Mr. Cheng. Senator Brown, thank you for the question. I 
think it pairs with a lot of the issues that we have been 
talking about overall in terms of rural forestry and Federal 
land forestry. There has just been an underinvestment in forest 
and tree planting, tree care, forest management in general. 
Especially in urban areas, this is a burden that is borne by 
cities themselves and their tax base. It is something that we 
really distribute and segment and silo our capacity for tree 
and forest management, and that could be better integrated.
    Senator Brown. Thank you, Dr. Cheng. Senator Stabenow, 
Madam Chair, thank you for the really important hearing.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thanks very much. Now to Senator 
Braun, my partner on so many of these issues. Senator Braun.
    Senator Braun. Thank you, Madam Chair. Whenever we have a 
discussion on forestry it is my favorite subject. In fact, I 
have been a practicing tree farmer since the late 1980's. The 
neat thing about that is it is kind of a great therapy for this 
new job I have as a U.S. Senator. I go back every weekend.
    I want to emphasize a couple of points that I have noticed, 
especially over the last few years, but many others have echoed 
here, how a growing, well-managed forest does sequester more 
carbon. That means that you need to manage your woodland not 
only from periodic harvest, to make sure that you are culling 
out what may not be that species of desired growth, the ones 
that need to come out to generate more room for other trees, 
and then intermittent work called timber stand improvement.
    There has been a lot of interest too--I am a member of most 
of the forest associations across the country and within my 
State--in climate, and how forests become a more important part 
of that. What I know most about forest ground, especially so 
much of it owned by farmers, they are great stewards of their 
cropland. Many times the management in their woodland, due to 
the periodic income, different from their annual rotation, does 
not get the attention it needs. That means there is a lot of 
upside potential.
    What I want to focus on here today, and my question would 
be for Mr. Harris and Mr. Fox, and if there is time for anyone 
else, where I spend the most time on the weekends, over the 
last five years especially, 10 years when it started showing up 
on the radar, emerald ash borer, which came from China probably 
on pallets. It has taken out nearly every ash tree in this 
country, comprised eight percent of all hardwoods. That is 
devastating on whatever management you had in place and 
probably your ability to sequester carbon.
    Japanese stiltgrass, the biggest problem we have in 
Southern Indiana, suffocates regeneration. You have got bush 
honeysuckle, garlic mustard, multiflora rose, ailanthus tree of 
heaven, many others I could mention. Many came in through 
nurseries.
    I would love to know what your opinion is of where invasive 
species, whether it is a bug or another bush or tree, where 
does that weigh in on the health of our forests, and are you 
having as many issues in your back yard as I am in mine, and 
what I see across Indiana?
    Mr. Harris. Senator, I will go first if that is okay, Mr. 
Fox. As you know, we manage about 6,500 acres in your State. 
All of the things that you just discussed are very real and 
very real to us. I think invasive species are a huge problem 
that the Federal Government and State governments can help us 
with. It is the expertise needed to understand what we are 
dealing with, how to deal with it, and how to deal with it 
cost-effectively, is a major thing that a lot of landowners 
struggle with, and I think especially smaller landowners 
struggle with it even more.
    Our company is large. My full-time job is being our 
company's forester, and so I am paid, and required to keep up 
with all of these things and be proactive. Proactive management 
is a huge part of invasive species and knowing what we are 
dealing with and how to deal with them. I would say that the 
small landowners are the ones who suffer the most from that, 
because they may not even know that they have the problems 
until it is too late. They are very real, and things that we 
have to deal with every day.
    Mr. Fox. Senator, again, thank you for the question. This 
is where you and the Committee can really help us. Our forest 
health program is somewhat limited budget-wise, and we get 
major help from the U.S. Forest Service in their forest health 
programs, whether it is an urban forest or whether it is a 
rural forest. We conduct detection flights when we think we 
have an ips beetle outbreak, which happened a little bit in 
west Arkansas a couple of years ago. Or it might be red oak 
borers, which wiped out a million acres in Arkansas and 
Missouri of red oak, a native insect that attacks red oak trees 
when there are too many trees per acre and after a drought.
    That forest health network that is within the Forest 
Service helps us have the funds to look and see so that we can 
serve landowners like Ms. Dillard, and warn them, help them 
with corrections or mitigation when they might have southern 
pine beetle or emerald ash borer. We have it here in Arkansas. 
Our ash is not quite gone yet, but it is leaving.
    We need those Federal program dollars for forest health to 
know how we can help to educate landowners, and we need it in 
forest inventory analysis, so when we take plots we can see 
what is out there and know we have a problem, discover the 
problem. You can really help us. Thank you, sir.
    Senator Braun. You bet. The sad thing about invasive 
species is that most forest owners do not know they have 
invasive species in their woods, because until you really get 
into the details of managing your own woodland, it looks like 
the landscape. I believe it is probably the most serious threat 
we have on managing our woodlands, and I think it would be an 
interesting discussion for a further committee hearing 
sometime.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Well, thank you, Senator Braun, and I 
can just say from Michigan, we have lost tens of millions of 
trees because of emerald ash borer alone, and it has just been 
devastating. It is an important discussion. Thank you.
    Senator Gillibrand?
    Senator Gillibrand. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I 
appreciate it very much.
    Dr. Cheng, thank you to the witnesses for being here today. 
Global deforestation impacts our security, climate change, 
wildfires, willful indigenous communities, and the global 
health crisis we are facing from COVID-19.
    Zoonotic spillover, the transmission of novel pathogens 
from animals to humans, is the origin of most emerging 
infectious diseases, including COVID-19. The rate of zoonotic 
disease outbreaks is rapidly increasing and driven by human 
activities that increase interactions between wildlife, 
livestock, and people.
    Land use change, particularly the clearing and degradation 
and fragmentation of tropical forests within emerging disease 
hotspots, as well as the wildlife trade and intensive livestock 
production, are of the greatest concern from a one-health and 
pandemic prevention perspective.
    Dr. Cheng, what sort of activities does Congress need to be 
looking at in order to stop global deforestation and to prevent 
future pandemics from occurring? What one-health approaches to 
this issue of deforestation do you find helpful?
    Mr. Cheng. Senator Gillibrand, thank you for the question. 
There have been international agreements around especially 
forest retention and deforestation. A lot of those require just 
a lot of voluntary practices on the part of national 
governments. We end up relying a lot on nongovernmental 
organizations to help provide incentives for countries to 
maintain those forest covers.
    There is also a forest products trade that can either help 
facilitate or frustrate these global deforestation issues. 
Working with countries and producing our own timber, using our 
own timber resources for domestic consumption, is a great 
opportunity for us to be able to solve that problem. The U.S. 
imports way more timber for our domestic consumption than we 
produce ourselves. Doing our part in terms of producing what we 
consume is a way for us to be able to contribute to 
deforestation problems.
    Senator Gillibrand. Thank you. I want to follow along in 
the conversation that Senator Braun really delved into, and the 
problems you are facing, Senator Braun, are the same ones we 
are facing in New York. New York State has more invasive forest 
insects and diseases than any other State. These insects and 
diseases arrive in our country as an unintended byproduct of 
global trade.
    The two main pathways of entry are on live trees and shrubs 
imported for the nursery trade and in solid wood packaging 
materials such as crates and pallets.
    In addition to severe ecological damage, these pests cause 
billions of dollars per year nationwide in economic damages, 
costs which fall largely on homeowners and local governments. 
Pests like the spotted lanternfly, which arrived on a stone 
pallet from Asia, posed a severe risk to crops and forests all 
around the U.S. This pest can weaken trees, cause the loss of 
leaves, and make leaves more susceptible to other pests and 
diseases.
    Mr. Fox, should there be more coordination between the 
Forest Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection 
Service to combat invasive species such as the spotted 
lanternfly?
    Mr. Fox. Thank you, Senator. There is an obvious answer. 
There is really good cooperation between APHIS and U.S. Forest 
Service within the U.S. Department of Agriculture right now. 
Just here in Arkansas Department of Agriculture we cooperate 
with our plant board, so Forestry Division and Plant Industries 
Division epidemiologists work together with APHIS on these 
issues here in my State.
    Having said that, more is better here. Those pests are 
spreading. We have a cogongrass problem here in the South that 
we have got to work on, and we have got fire ants here in the 
South that have been with us now for 30, 40 years.
    There are constant things that we have to work on that more 
cooperation would definitely help. Knowing that in that 
cooperation is the cooperation of State agencies like Plant 
Industries Division here and those similar ones in other 
States. You need cooperation at the State level as well as the 
Federal level.
    Senator Gillibrand. Thank you, and thank you, Madam 
Chairwoman.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thanks very much. Well, let me thank 
all of our witnesses again. This has really been an excellent 
hearing. Thank you, Senator Boozman, for working with me on 
this.
    We have heard very clearly that as family foresters, 
professionals, and public servants working in the field every 
day, you are seeing what we are seeing, a real opportunity for 
public and private forestland to lead the way in addressing the 
climate crisis. We have also heard that if we want to be 
broadly successful in this effort we have to make sure policies 
work for everyone. That means making sure small acreage, 
minority, under-represented and under-resourced producers have 
the support they need to be successful as well.
    If we can be successful in crafting practical policies, we 
can reduce carbon pollution and create new sources of revenue 
for family foresters, which I think is really a terrific 
opportunity for us.
    I hope that each of you and your organizations will 
continue to lead on this issue, and I look forward to having 
our Committee work with you as we move forward.
    In addition, the record will remain open for five business 
days for members to submit additional questions or statements. 
The hearing is adjourned.

    [Whereupon, at 11:26 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

      
=======================================================================

                            A P P E N D I X

                              May 20, 2021

=======================================================================

[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

      
=======================================================================


                         QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

                              MAY 20, 2021

=======================================================================

[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                 [all]