URGENT: Help us Advance the Ecosystem Services Bill (HB 2170 and SB 5999) to Protect Our Legacy Forests and Generate Revenue!
Watch the video explainer from the Center for Responsible Forestry, read FOCC’s letter to legislators, and then take action using CRF’s call to action!
Take Action on the Ecosystem Services Bill
FOCC’s Letter
Dear legislators,
I am writing on behalf of Friends of Clark County, a 501(c)(3) non-profit advocacy organization representing its thousands of supporters who are residents of Clark County, Washington. We encourage you to support HB 2170 and its companion bill, SB 5999.
The stated purpose of HB 2170 (known as the “Ecosystem Services Bill”) is to expand revenue generation and economic opportunities derived from natural climate solutions and ecosystem services. From HB 2170: “Examples of ecosystem services include, but are not limited to, carbon sequestration and storage, air and water filtration, climate stabilization, and disturbance mitigation.”
As we in Western Washington, and specifically Clark County, live in a heavily forested region, the revenue and economic opportunities derived from our forest lands are extremely important. Until now, management objectives, while following the most basic and bare minimum of federal laws on specific endangered species, have not taken these holistic ecosystem services into account even though these critical ecosystem functions provide the foundation of all livability that allows economies and communities like ours to flourish. At state and local levels we have lobbied for prioritizing the protection of critical forest lands for their intrinsic value for ecosystem services as equally important as their monetary value of raw materials extraction.
Historically, management objectives have critically undervalued the function of ecosystem services in favor of short-term profits which ultimately imperils long-term regional quality of life, biodiversity, and fundamental livability. Choosing between economic viability for our communities or functioning ecosystems should not be a conflict of interest. Friends of Clark County believes that it is wholly possible to prioritize both the value of our ecosystems for the crucial life supporting functions they fulfill as well as economic prosperity, which is why we support HB 2170 as providing rationale for mutually beneficial forest management within our forest-dependent communities. HB 2170 would empower the Washington Department of Natural Resources to leverage the importance of forest ecosystems for smart forest management that allows for maximizing natural climate solutions while providing economic incentives to do so. There is nothing in this bill that excludes consideration of forest products from economic consideration; to the contrary, it empowers the forest product sector to modernize and align with state and local climate goals in a way that also benefits the economy. With climate change threatening regional climate stability, it has never been more time sensitive to place a monetary incentive on acknowledging all the ways these forest ecosystems support a livable climate and biodiverse wilderness.
HB 2170 provides a path forward for a science-based way to support our communities, and we hope you will heed this call to support its passing.
Thank you for your consideration,
Tonya Enger
Board of Directors, FOCC
Ann Foster
President
Board of Directors, FOCC