We live in a rapidly changing world, and with change comes uncertainty.
The growing instability of our climate – and the erratic weather patterns that come with it – have made supply chains less reliable, economic forecasts less predictable, and the security of our communities more fragile.
As decision makers across the country look for solutions to keep communities secure, nature can provide powerful solutions. Actions such as planting and maintaining trees, implementing sustainable agriculture practices, and restoring coastal wetlands – strategies known as nature-based solutions – can help people and economies. They safeguard clean water, preserve wildlife habitat, and support millions of jobs, all while reducing carbon pollution to create a more stable climate for the future.
But knowing how and where to implement these solutions can often be complicated. A new online resource called Nature4Communities is now available to help legislators, community leaders, businesses, and others identify which nature-based solutions can best meet their needs during these uncertain times.
The resource provides an interactive map that identifies state-specific examples of nature-based solutions being implemented across the nation. Users can click on these projects to get a deep dive into how they were launched, their impact, and what more could be achieved with greater funding.
Users can also create customizable fact sheets for a variety of states, selecting the types of nature-based solutions they want to highlight, such as coastal restoration or reforestation. The web tool then generates graphics and scientific data on the economic, social, health, and other benefits those projects provide, along with data highlighting the overwhelmingly support among voters for funding for these solutions.
The customizable fact sheets can be used to educate Members of Congress and other decision-makers about how nature-based solutions can help their local communities and economies by creating jobs, supporting industries, and reducing the risk of costly natural disasters.
Protecting Communities and Economies with Nature-Based Solutions
Healthy lands and waters have long served as the foundation of businesses across the nation. For example, healthy coasts and waterways underpin America’s commercial and recreational fishing industries that support 2.3 million jobs and generate $321 billion in sales each year.1 America’s vast forests – which provide us with everything from building materials to paper products to medical supplies – support manufacturing businesses that employ nearly 1 million people and generate $288 billion in revenue annually, equal to about 4 percent of the entire U.S. manufacturing gross domestic product.2
Protecting the nation’s natural systems also can help shield communities from the growing droughts, storms, and other threats brought on by the changing climate. Coastal wetlands act as sponges that absorb flood waters and provide American communities with $23 billion in flood protection each year.3 Forests serve as natural water filtration systems, removing pollutants and regulating flows to help ensure clean and abundant drinking water in times of drought.
A study conducted in Minnesota in 2023 found that for every $1 invested in natural solutions more than $8 in public benefits is created, from disaster risk reduction and improved wildlife habitat to better air quality and healthier soils to grow cops.4
And nature-based solutions not only keep lands and waters strong, but they also have the added benefit of generating even more jobs and income. One study estimated that environmental restoration projects already account for some 221,000 jobs in the United States and generate almost $25 billion in economic output.5 But that’s just the beginning. A major campaign to plant trees across the nation could create up to 150,000 new jobs a year, triple the number of new jobs created in the oil and gas industries in 2018.
As we implement these solutions that sustain our nation’s lands and waters, we also bolster their natural ability to remove climate-changing carbon dioxide from the air, securing greater stability for generations to come. Nature-based solutions currently remove 13% of annual greenhouse gas emissions across the United States,6 equal to nearly half of all emissions created by the nation’s planes, trains, and automobiles.7
A Winning Solution
Supporting the implementation of these solutions is a winning proposition for decision-makers. A national poll conducted last year on behalf of U.S. Nature4Climate – a coalition of American businesses, conservationists, farmers, ranchers, hunters, and others – found that 94% of voters support the expansion of these natural solutions through legislation and increased public funding at the federal, state, and local levels. That support crosses party lines with 99% of Democrats, 94% of independents, and 89% of Republicans saying they want greater investments in natural solutions. The poll also found that an overwhelming majority – 69% of all voters – are more likely to have a favorable view of Members of Congress who back these solutions.
It is easy to feel uncertain during these changing times. But nature has provided security and stability across the nation and around the world throughout history.
Whether it be coastal communities searching for ways to shield themselves from growing storm surges, farmers trying to improve soils for more abundant crops, or fishing industries working to keep waterways healthy and productive, Nature4Communities offers the information decision-makers need to advance nature-based solutions and create a more secure today and tomorrow.
A new national survey conducted by U.S. Nature4Climate shows that voters across party lines support natural climate solutions more than ever, suggesting fertile ground for bi-partisan cooperation and consensus-building, opening up new avenues for climate action. Learn more.
Explore Nature4Communities, a resource that shows you how nature-based solutions are critical for your community’s well-being and become a better advocate for their implementation.
Happy New Year! As we step into 2025, we are filled with hope and determination to make significant strides in climate action. This blog article focuses on the latest updates in Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) across the U.S., showcasing their potential to unite us in addressing climate change.
In this article, you’ll find:
Tracking Inflation Reduction Act spending
States leading on climate action
Recent resources on wildfires, including two scientific deep dives on prescribed burnings
A new, free course on NCS to deepen your knowledge and understand the clear path forward for climate action in the U.S.
We hope this article inspires you to explore these critical topics and join us in advancing Natural Climate Solutions. Wishing you a prosperous and impactful year ahead!
Below is a round-up of recent updates from U.S. Nature4Climate members:
The Environmental Defense Fund collaborated with Columbia Law School‘s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law to re-launch their Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Tracker with enhanced functionality to address the new Trump administration’s policies.
This interactive tool now includes features to monitor rollbacks, legal actions, and other actions relevant to IRA-funded programs. The tracker provides a comprehensive database summarizing IRA provisions and an action tracker documenting federal agency efforts to implement the IRA. Additionally, it will now track attempts by the Trump administration to roll back IRA programs, such as the executive order pausing disbursements under the IRA. Explore the tracker here.
The new report emphasizes the critical role state governments must play in combating climate change, especially in light of federal policy setbacks. Much of the report focuses on necessary action in the energy and transportation sectors, but it also highlights the need for states to adopt innovative financing mechanisms to support conservation and climate-smart agriculture.
This recent article by the Environmental & Energy Study Institute emphasizes the importance of locally-led climate adaptation and resilience efforts, highlighting that frontline communities, which are most affected by climate change, have valuable knowledge and solutions but need federal support to enhance their initiatives. It underscores the need for federal policies to incorporate and support local climate adaptation strategies, ensuring that the most effective and context-specific solutions are implemented to address climate impacts. Read it here.
Feature: Deepen your knowledge of NCS
What exactly are Natural Climate Solutions?
NATURAL CLIMATE SOLUTIONS TRAINING RESOURCES: The Nature ConservancyTraining Resource: NCS Foundations Course (note: you will need to create a conservationtraining.org account and log in to access the course)
In the current politically divided environment in the U.S., Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) are uniquely positioned to advance climate action due to their overwhelming bipartisan support. According to 2024 research commissioned by USN4C, 94% of voters across party lines favor expanding NCS practices. This broad consensus is rare and highlights the unifying potential of NCS, making them a strategic focus for policymakers seeking common ground. This is why it’s so important now more than ever to fully understand what Natural Climate Solutions are and what are their potential.
The Nature Conservancy has launched a free, publicly-available NCS Foundations Course through its conservationtraining.org platform, offering a comprehensive introduction to Natural Climate Solutions (NCS). The course covers the basics of NCS, various NCS pathways, the process of analyzing the potential benefits of NCS, and how NCS applies to policy, strategy, and implementation.
The recent wildfires in Los Angeles, which began in early January 2025, have been unprecedented in their timing and intensity. These fires, including the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, have displaced tens of thousands and claimed numerous lives.
The WRI article uses data from the Global Forest Watch platform to illustrate the rarity of such early-season fires in California. It highlights the alarming rise in fire alerts and the significant deviation from typical weather patterns, emphasizing the urgent need to address the growing impact of climate change on wildfire frequency and severity.
For a deeper understanding of the factors contributing to these fires, their broader implications, and how to address this threat in the future, read the full article here.
The USDA Forest Service article emphasizes that forest thinning, which involves removing excess vegetation, is crucial for reducing wildfire intensity and spread. Examples from Southern California demonstrate its effectiveness in creating safer conditions for firefighting and protecting communities, highlighting the importance of proactive forest management for both safety and environmental health. Learn more.
Improved Planning: Understanding the seasonal and environmental patterns of escaped prescribed fires can help resource managers plan and execute prescribed burns more effectively, reducing the risk of escapes.
Enhanced Training: The findings suggest that areas with more frequent prescribed fires have fewer escapes, highlighting the importance of experience and training in managing these burns.
Risk Mitigation: Identifying wind speed as a critical factor in fire escapes can lead to better risk assessment and mitigation strategies, ensuring safer prescribed fire practices.
The study titled “Perceived wildfire risk and past experiences with wildfire smoke influence public support for prescribed burning in the western conterminous United States” explores how people’s experiences with wildfire smoke and their perceptions of wildfire risk affect their support for prescribed burns.
Key findings include:
Public Support: About two-thirds of the population supports prescribed burning in general, and more than half support it near their neighborhood.
Impact of Smoke Experience: Individuals who have experienced wildfire smoke in the past three years are more likely to support prescribed burns.
Perceived Risk: High perceived risk of future smoke impacts is associated with increased support for prescribed burns.
By understanding how past experiences with wildfire smoke and perceived risks influence support for prescribed burning, policymakers can tailor their communication strategies to address public concerns and increase acceptance of prescribed burning as a wildfire mitigation tool. The findings suggest that targeted outreach and education efforts could play a crucial role in gaining public support for prescribed burning, ultimately contributing to more effective wildfire management in the western United States. Read the full study here.
A press release from The Land Institute announced that a coalition of 153 Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates has issued a call for significant political and financial support for “Moonshot” initiatives aimed at addressing global hunger and ensuring the long-term health of the planet.
These initiatives focus on transforming agriculture through the development of perennial crops and innovative agricultural technologies. The laureates emphasize the need for concentrated investments in agricultural research and development to tackle challenges such as unpredictable weather, declining food yields, soil degradation, and biodiversity loss. The Land Institute, along with its global partners, is actively working on these solutions to create a sustainable and food-secure future. Learn more.
A fact sheet released by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (amplified by a Land Trust Alliance article) highlights the importance of conservation easements and grassland conservation, particularly through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP).
Conserving grasslands supports biodiversity by providing habitats for birds, pollinators, and more. It also helps maintain water quality and soil health, which are crucial for sustainable agriculture. These conservation efforts are vital for the long-term health of the environment and the agricultural economy, benefiting both current and future generations.
The Regrow Agriculture-led study Monitoring and Mapping a Decade of Regenerative Agricultural Practices Across the Contiguous United States, leverages satellite remote sensing to monitor regenerative agriculture practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, and conservation tillage. This research provides the first detailed map of these practices over time and across the entire U.S., offering valuable insights for better agricultural management.
The use of satellite remote sensing to monitor regenerative agriculture practices provides valuable data for policymakers to support sustainable agricultural management. The comprehensive mapping and validation of these practices can inform policy decisions on agricultural subsidies, climate resilience, and environmental protection. Read the study.
For monthly updates on the latest successful implementations, funding opportunities, policies, and scientific advancements related to Natural Climate Solutions, be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Click below to subscribe!
Land conservation is a critical and cost-effective climate solution that delivers significant environmental, social, and health benefits.
Protecting existing carbon-rich landscapes should be a top priority, as they offer the greatest and most immediate mitigation potential and co-benefits.
Land conservation enhances community resilience, supporting clean air, water, biodiversity, and public health, while also fighting climate change.
Real-world examples prove that land conservation works, with measurable benefits to communities and ecosystems, including carbon sequestration, water protection, and habitat restoration.
Now is the time to act on land conservation, utilizing data, tools, and community partnerships to scale up efforts in the fight against climate change. Read more below.
“Every acre conserved is more than just land; it’s a commitment to the future.” That’s the theme of a new report by the Land and People Lab at Trust for Public Land. The new report makes case that land conservation is a cost effective, high impact natural climate solution (NCS) that delivers multiple benefits at scale. The Power of Land Conservation to Address the Climate Crisis synthesizes the latest science around how conservation delivers quantifiable benefits across five distinct areas: carbon storage, water, air, biodiversity, and human health. It then lays out compelling case studies highlighting real-world conservation projects across the U.S that are delivering these benefits. And finally, it ends with a call to action:
With a clear understanding that land conservation can help protect our climate—and our communities—now is the time to act. Through meaningful engagement with communities and advocacy for increased funding and innovative policies, the conservation community can play a central role in tackling the climate crisis while building healthier, more equitable, and more resilient communities nationwide.
“The report elevates land conservation to its rightful place as a critical climate solution and calls the entire conservation community to action. With new data and tools, we have what we need. The time to act is now.”
Abigail Weinberg,Senior Director of Conservation Science & Planning at the Open Space Institute.
Quantifying the Impact: Conservation as a Climate Solution
When it comes to climate solutions, land conservation – a tradition in the U.S. that dates back to the 1800s and beyond – is often left out of the conversation. However conserved lands like forests, wetlands, and grasslands serve as vital carbon sinks. U.S. forests currently absorb nearly 13 percent of the nation’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. Across all natural landscapes, carbon storage and sequestration capacity is immense: Wetlands in the lower 48 states store over 11 billion metric tons (11 gigatons) of carbon—representing one of the highest carbon stocks as measured on a per-acre basis. Coastal ecosystems, such as tidal marshes and mangroves, can sequester carbon ten times faster than tropical rainforests; and grassland carbon is often touted as one of the most secure carbon vaults because the carbon is stored belowground where it is less vulnerable to wildfire and other natural disturbances. But these natural lands are under threat.
According to Global Forest Watch, between 2001 and 2022, the U.S. lost 113 million acres of tree cover—a 17 percent decrease. Our wetlands are also disappearing or are being degraded, and research has shown that carbon stocks are often lower in wetlands that have seen major human disturbances.
That’s why leading research by Susan Cook Patton et al. note that “counter to an emerging preference for restoration,” protecting carbon-rich landscapes should often be the top NCS priority based on “(1) the magnitude and (2) immediacy of mitigation potential, as well as (3) cost-effectiveness and (4) the co-benefits they offer.”
The Broader Impact: Air, Water, Health and Biodiversity
The benefits of land conservation extend beyond carbon sequestration. Conserved lands significantly improve air quality, with U.S. trees and forests removing 17.4 million tons of air pollution in 2010 alone—yielding health benefits valued at $6.8 billion. Additionally, around 83 million people in the U.S. rely on forested watersheds for clean drinking water. However, these water resources are increasingly threatened by urbanization and climate change.
Biodiversity is another critical area where land conservation has a measurable impact. A 2023 analysis by NatureServe, one of the leading biodiversity conservation nonprofits in North America, shows that 40 percent of animals, 34 percent of plants, and 40 percent of ecosystems nationwide are at risk. It further noted that land conversion is a major determinant of the numbers of U.S. species and ecosystems at risk, with grasslands and wetlands being most affected. Land conservation provides essential habitats; Time and again, rare and threatened species have begun to flourish when given space and protection afforded by conserved lands that protect important habitats and maintain ecosystem stability.
Case Studies: Real-World Success Stories
The report features several case studies that underscore the benefits of real-world land conservation projects. In Northern California, Trust for Public Land supported the Yurok Tribe in land back conservation efforts that are storing over 20,000 metric tons of carbon annually, equivalent to the emissions from burning over 8 million gallons of gasoline. Meanwhile, in Whitefish, Montana, the conservation of 3,000 acres of timberland not only protects the city’s previously threatened drinking water supply but also sequesters nearly 500 tons of carbon each year—equivalent to avoiding the burning of 1.2 billion pounds of coal. Additional case studies highlight biodiversity benefits from a conservation project in New Mexico and community and climate benefits of community forests in Northern New England.
The Path Forward: Scaling Up Land Conservation
The urgency of the climate crisis demands a strategic approach to land conservation. The report calls for a renewed focus on protecting carbon-rich landscapes and involving local communities and Indigenous groups in these efforts. By utilizing tools such as online mapping to identify priority areas and designing conservation easements that enhance carbon sequestration, we can maximize the climate benefits of land conservation.
Land conservation is a powerful tool in our climate action toolkit. By protecting and restoring natural landscapes, we can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance community resilience and public health, and preserve biodiversity. The numbers speak for themselves: land conservation is not just a moral obligation—it’s a strategic imperative for tackling the climate crisis.
Explore More: For a deeper dive into the power of land conservation in addressing the climate crisis, read the full report by the Trust for Public Land here.
Community-Led Efforts: The Boise City of Trees Challenge is a community-led initiative that aims to tackle climate change by planting trees in urban areas and restoring forests, demonstrating the power of local action.
Environmental, Economic, and Community Benefits: Reforestation provides significant environmental benefits such as carbon sequestration, improved water quality, wildlife habitat restoration, and reduced landslide risk, while also enhancing recreational spaces for the community. The Lucky Peak Nursery, part of the U.S. Forest Service network, provides jobs and supports local economies.
Infrastructure Investment: The REPLANT Act, part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, increased annual federal funding for reforestation, demonstrating the potential of bipartisan legislation to address environmental challenges.
Successful Collaboration: The City of Trees Challenge showcases the power of collaboration among federal agencies, municipal governments, non-profit organizations, and local volunteers to achieve ambitious tree planting goals.
Urban Tree Canopy Enhancement: The initiative also includes work to enhance Boise’s tree cover, demonstrating the potential of urban forestry efforts to improve local climates, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
Critical Role of Nurseries: The USDA Forest Service’s Lucky Peak Nursery is pivotal in the reforestation process, producing millions of seedlings annually and ensuring they are genetically diverse and suited for their planting locations, thus maximizing survival rates.
In 2022, U.S. Nature4Climate profiled the Boise City of Trees Challenge, a community-led effort to increase urban tree canopy in Boise by planting one tree for every household [100,000] in the city. What makes this effort unique is that the urban forestry effort is coupled with an effort to restore the Boise National Forest, nearly 200,000 acres of which was burned by the Pioneer Fire in 2016. Post-fire reforestation provides many benefits for communities and the environment. In addition to jump-starting carbon sequestration, restored forests provide wildlife habitat, reduce the risk of landslides, improve water quality for surrounding communities, and provide areas for nearby communities to enjoy nature. With proper planning and management, restored forests improved resilience to wildfire, pests, and other climate change-driven threats.
For this reason, the urban forestry goal was complemented by a plan to plant one tree for every person in Boise [235,000] in the Boise National Forest. Former Boise City Council member Elaine Clegg, who has helped lead the City of Trees Challenge, noted that having clearly defined goals was key: “People grasped it because they understood it. More importantly, everybody here said, ‘I think we can lean in and help’ and make it work.
On May 15, the program’s partners gathered at the USDA Forest Service’s Lucky Peak Nursery and in the Boise National Forest itself to celebrate the successful planting of 235,000 seedlings to help support the restoration of the forest. The City of Trees Challenge serves as an example of how federal agencies, municipal governments, and non-profit organizations can work together to accomplish ambitious tree planting goals.
Laying the Groundwork: The Vital Role of Tree Nurseries
The Lucky Peak Nursery, part of the U.S. Forest Service network, plays a crucial role in reforesting areas impacted by wildfire, providing jobs and supporting local economies. Photo by Nathan Henry.
The Lucky Peak Nursery is one of 8 facilities (6 nurseries and 2 seed extractories) in the U.S. Forest Service network. It currently has the greenhouse capacity to produce 1.7 million seedlings per year, and bare root field orders average 1-1.5 million seedlings per year, averaging combined annual orders of 3 million. The nursery plays a key role in successfully reforesting areas impacted by wildfire. Seeds are first collected by volunteers and contractors, who carefully select the healthiest, most vigorous trees – paying attention to genetic diversity. The seeds are then sent to the nursery, where they are extracted, sorted, grown, packaged, and shipped to private clients and to help restore federal public lands. The nursery does more than just grow seedlings. Nursery staff carefully tracks where each tree seed was collected from, including its location and elevation – ensuring that when the seedlings are ultimately planted, they have the best chance for survival.
As noted in the 2021 paper, Challenges in the Reforestation Pipeline in the United States, nursery capacity in the U.S. currently falls well short of what is needed to support ambitious reforestation efforts. Reforesting 64 million acres of land by 2040 with 30 billion trees would require 1.7 billion more seedlings to be produced every year – a 2.3-fold increase over nursery capacity in 2021, with additional investments also made in seed collection and seedling production. Re-building the Forest Service workforce is also necessary to accomplish these goals. According to a Forest Service fact sheet, the non-fire portion of the Forest Service workforce has declined by 40% even as wildfire increases substantially.
The REPLANT Act, passed as part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, increased annual federal funding for reforestation from $30 million to $140 million, and mandates removing the 3 to 5 million acre backlog of areas requiring post-fire restoration. This will allow federally owned nurseries to increase capacity and strengthen the reforestation workforce. The Lucky Peak Nursery, which produces a combined 3 million bare root and container plug seedlings a year, is already half a million trees over capacity. According to Forest Service staff interviewed at the City of Trees event, funding from the REPLANT Act will allow the nursery to increase capacity to 7 to 10 million trees in the next 10 years. The City of Trees Challenge serves as an example of the kind of collaborative effort that can be supported with REPLANT Act funding.
Planting the Trees
Once the Lucky Peak Nursery produces the seedlings, the next step is to get them into the ground. The Forest Service undertakes extensive planning to ensure the trees survival, making sure the right trees are planted in the right place at the right time. At the Lucky Peak Nursery, seeds are carefully tracked according to the location and elevation where they are harvested. Nursery staff makes sure to select species and genotypes that are likely to thrive in the Boise National Forest. Silviculture staff ensures that trees are planted in areas that are unlikely to regenerate naturally. Those planting the trees, including volunteers and contractors, are trained to ensure that trees are planted in spots where they are most likely to persevere. According to John Riling, who manages the Forest Service’s wildfire strategy for the region, with careful planning, up to 80% of seedlings planted can survive. “Being strategic about how we plant, thinking about planting density and locations for establishing seed sources so those trees can further spread seeds is all critical in planning, design, and implementation.”
This program’s success can be attributed in large part to the strong partnerships formed between federal and local government agencies and non-profit organizations. Under its silviculture program, the USDA Forest Service lends expertise, nursery capacity, and supports the workforce necessary to get the trees into the ground. The Nature Conservancy, Treasure Valley Canopy Network, Arbor Day Foundation helped provide the funding and support necessary to reach the program’s ambitious goals.
The Forest Service’s John Riling perhaps summed it up best when he said, “It’s an exciting era where tree planting has become sexy again. We’re starting to get funding through the REPLANT Act, a permanent authorized extension of the Reforestation Trust Fund, and also partners recognizing that value and supporting the effort are really allowing us to scale up.”
Don’t Forget the Urban Trees
The effort to replant the Boise National Forest is only one part of the City of Trees Challenge. The partnership is also continuing work to enhance Boise’s tree cover, with several additional communities in the Treasure Valley also participating in the program. Planting urban trees can bring significant benefits to the neighborhoods where they are planted. According to Elaine Clegg, “Right now the climate in some neighborhoods can be 10 degrees hotter than the climate in other neighborhoods on a hot day, solely dependent on their tree canopy cover.”
Enhancing Boise’s urban tree canopy focuses on reducing temperature disparities in different neighborhoods, particularly benefiting disadvantaged communities. Photos by Treasure Valley Canopy Network.
To date, nearly 17,000 trees have been planted in the city and surrounding communities. Partnerships with the Arbor Day Foundation, American Forests, Jayker Nurseries, ExtraMile Arena, and The Nature Conservancy help ensure trees are planted in areas lacking tree canopy – often in disadvantaged communities. The Boise Tree Captains program provides the workforce needed to get the trees in the ground in the neighborhoods where they are needed most. After the trees are planted, Tree Captains – volunteer leaders who work with neighborhood residents to plant trees – play an important role in maintaining the trees. According to Elaine Clegg, “We still have a lot of trees to go in the city, but I’m confident because of our success so far that we’re going to get there.”
Federal programs like the Forest Services’ Urban and Community Forestry Program, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, can help support urban reforestation. Indeed, in 2023, the Treasure Valley Canopy Network was awarded a $1,076,500 million grant to support equitable access to tree canopy and urban tree maintenance programs. Tools like American Forests’ Tree Equity Score can help ensure that these trees are placed in the neighborhoods that need them most.
An Example for Future Efforts
Throughout the country – especially in Western states – urban areas are located in close proximity to National Forests that have been impacted by wildfire. Because these forests provide recreational services and a wide range of environmental benefits to those cities, they have a vested interest in restoring healthy forests. Accessing available sources of federal funding and establishing partnerships along the lines of the Boise City of Trees Challenge provides a way to bring together the funding, expertise, and workforce necessary to replant these forests. Coupling these efforts with community-led programs to restore urban tree canopy can help ensure the benefits of trees are shared equitably. Whether in a city or in a rural forest, every tree planted also helps pull carbon dioxide out of the air – helping to mitigate climate change and reduce threats to cities and forests alike. In the Boise National Forest, 235,000 new seedlings have joined the fight.
Challenges in Land Management: Policymakers and land managers face the challenge of managing U.S. lands to support various needs like food and timber production, community resilience, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration, amidst unpredictable weather and growing global demands.
Role of U.S. Lands in Climate Change Mitigation: U.S. lands can both sequester and emit greenhouse gases. Increasing the land carbon sink while decreasing land-based emissions is essential to meeting climate goals.
Potential of U.S. Lands: Investments like the Inflation Reduction Act aim to enhance the resilience and health of U.S. lands. Analysis suggests that ambitious climate-smart forestry and agriculture initiatives could significantly increase the land carbon sink and reduce agricultural emissions.
Priorities for Land Managers and Policymakers: Strategies to protect and increase the land carbon sink include limiting land conversion, building ecosystem resilience, planning for economy-wide decarbonization, and promoting green infrastructure. Community involvement, equitable distribution of benefits, and innovative financing mechanisms are crucial for successful land management projects.
Policymakers and land managers face difficult decisions in an increasingly uncertain climate future. Lands must support food and timber production, help buffer communities from extreme weather, provide space for people to live and recreate, support biodiversity and sequester carbon. Managing land to meet all these needs while confronting unpredictable weather and a growing global demand for food and wood requires thoughtful and proactive action.
The U.S. lands sector, which includes forests, grasslands, wetlands, agricultural lands and agricultural operations, can remove carbon emissions to help curb the impacts of climate change, but it can also be a source of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Activities like planting trees or conserving natural ecosystems increase what’s known as the land carbon sink, or the ability of land to sequester carbon. On the other hand, running farm equipment, fertilizing soil and plowing under native grasslands, releases greenhouse gases.
To reduce the most harmful impacts from climate change and support the U.S. target of reducing economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% below 2005 levels by 2030, the land carbon sink needs to be increased and protected from future degradation, while lands-based emissions need to be decreased.
The Potential of US Lands
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, together with existing state forest and agricultural policies, are making critical investments in the resilience and health of the U.S. land base. But new analysis from America Is All In — a coalition of U.S. state and local leaders and organizations, including WRI — finds that the benefits from this investment are not yet secured. Effective implementation of climate-smart federal programs combined with increased state ambition and investment is required to protect and increase the land carbon sink.
In 2021, U.S. lands sequestered approximately 750 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) per year, and agriculture emitted approximately 600 MtCO2e per year. Based on one set of models of the U.S. land sector, America Is All In finds that full implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act and other current federal and state policies, amounting to $42 billion of planned investment, would reduce agricultural emissions by about 8% or 48 MtCO2e per year over 2021 levels in 2035 and would increase the land carbon sink by about 1.5% or approximately 10 MtCO2e per year over 2021 levels in 2035. While a 1.5% increase is modest, implementation of current policies could help to reverse a projected decline in the land carbon sink.
With increased policy ambition and investment of approximately $160 billion in climate-smart forestry and agriculture the models find that the land carbon sink would increase by approximately 3%, or 24 MtCO2e per year in 2035. This high-climate ambition scenario would see a 13% reduction in agricultural emissions, or approximately 75 MtCO2e per year by 2035.
While America Is All In finds that these levels of land sector mitigation are enough to help the U.S. realize its climate goals alongside emissions reductions in other sectors, they do not realize the full potential of the land carbon sink. Otherstudies find much higher potential for reforestation, agricultural emissions reductions and other nature-based climate solutions, but maximizing the land carbon sink involves land use trade-offs. For example, planting trees can effectively sequester carbon, but planting new forests on large expanses of agricultural land could displace critical food production. Careful policymaking at the federal, state and local levels is needed to balance land use for food, fiber, biodiversity, climate mitigation and more.
What Should Land Managers and Policymakers Prioritize?
Protecting and increasing the land carbon sink will require an all-society effort. Federal funding like the Inflation Reduction Act can provide the foundation for action, but effective implementation takes place at the state and local level where the needs of ecosystems and communities are considered, while tradeoffs are weighed.
Despite historic levels of land sector funding in the Inflation Reduction Act, funding for many key projects is still limited and state and local leaders and their private sector and NGO partners need to prioritize actions that mitigate greenhouse gasses and increase resilience.
Here are four ways that policymakers, local leaders and land managers can prioritize strategies that will protect the land carbon sink and balance the many requirements for land use in the face of climate change.
1) Limit Conversion by Identifying Regional and Local Drivers of Land Use Change
While it is important to increase the land carbon sink, it is equally important to protect the carbon already stored in soils and vegetation. U.S. forests alone already contain about 60 gigatons of carbon, and they sequester an additional 700 MtCO2e each year. However, if forest ecosystems are severely damaged by logging or a natural disturbance, carbon stored in trees and soils is released to the atmosphere, and the ability of that forest to sequester carbon into the future may be diminished. This is also true of grassland and agricultural soils: Once carbon is lost, it takes intensive restoration and management to restore the carbon sink to pre-disturbance levels. This dynamic can be thought of as the “carbon cost” of clearing land for agriculture or development and not taking action to restore carbon stocks.
The factors that drive land use change vary regionally across the U.S. In areas where agriculture is a dominant industry, such as the Midwest, cropland expansion can drive the conversion of natural forest and grassland. Policies like the Renewable Fuel Standard that incentivize farmers to grow corn and soy for biofuels have contributed to the expansion of cropland into areas that are less productive and pose an outsized threat to habitat and biodiversity. Croplands have expanded by approximately 1 million acres per year between 2008 and 2016, leading to carbon emissions from the ecosystems that were converted.
The loss of cropland to commercial and residential development on some of the U.S.’s most productive soils is another driver of forest and grassland conversion. Urban expansion in many areas of the country displaces efficient agricultural production, requiring conversion to agriculture in other, less productive areas to compensate. The U.S. lost approximately 2,000 acres of prime farmland or ranchland every day between 2001 and 2016, and much of this land was converted to low-density urban development.
Forest loss due to land use change is an equally significant threat to natural carbon stores and ecosystem resilience. WRI’s Global Forest Watch finds that forest loss is most significant in the Northwest and Southeast regions of the U.S., and permanent deforestation is primarily driven by urbanization and commercial deforestation to accommodate demand for forest products. The U.S. lost 1.6 million hectares, or approximately 6,000 square miles of forest in 2022.
Policy approaches to curb land use change include:
Implementing urban zoning practices that create more dense and livable cities and protect prime farmland. For example, the state of New York has created a Farmland Protection Program that helps farmers maintain agricultural activity.
Making sure that biofuels and biomass policies include the true ‘carbon cost’ of biofuels to avoid incentivizing land use change and associated carbon emissions in the U.S. and abroad.
2) Build Resilience by Identifying Climate-related Factors that Threaten Local Ecosystems
Even though climate change affects all parts of the U.S., the key to managing ecosystems and lands for climate change is to identify the greatest health risks and then help them become resilient to change. Restoring an ecosystem often increases its carbon sink and resilient ecosystems and agricultural systems will reliably sequester carbon into the future.
Forests in Western and Southwestern U.S. states face an increased risk of extreme wildfire due, in part, to climate change, which can damage forests and reduce carbon sequestration capacity in the future. While wildfire mitigation treatments may decrease forest carbon stocks in the short- to medium-term, these treatments can safeguard forests in the long-term. Forests in the Rocky Mountain region are predicted to be a net source of carbon dioxide through 2070 without significant policy intervention, which underscores the urgent need to manage forests for wildfire resilience. Across the U.S., forests also face destruction by pests and pathogens, exacerbated by climate change, which one report has estimated will cost the U.S. 50 MtCO2e every year.
A plane drops a fire retardant to battle flames in Southern California. U.S. Wildfires like those in California threaten ecosystems and impact their ability to sequester carbon. Photo by Randy Miramontez/Shutterstock.
In agricultural areas, climate-related extreme weather like drought, heat and flooding threatens crop production. Practices that build soil health like cover cropping or reduced tillage can increase crop resilience to flooding and drought. Agroforestry, or the practice of incorporating trees and shrubs into agricultural and ranching systems, can protect fields from erosion, improve water quality, provide wildlife habitat and sequester carbon. It is important that policymakers continue to support farmers in adopting these resilience practices as well as in reducing agricultural emissions by using targeted fertilizer application, improving livestock feed and reducing food loss and waste.
Carbon sinks in coastal areas are also under threat due to climate change. Sea level rise can flood wetlands and prevent them from providing water quality benefits and habitat for young fish. In many places, development in coastal areas prevents wetlands from migrating in response to sea level rise, so wetland ecosystems are permanently lost. Coastal development can also lead to draining or fragmenting wetlands which causes them to release carbon and methane.
Policy approaches to increase ecosystem resilience include:
Investing in risk mitigation treatments in areas with high risk of wildfires that improve forest health and resilience and reduce the risk of severe fire. For example, Colorado’s HB HB22-1011 created a grant program for local governments to undertake wildfire mitigation projects and education.
Providing forest owners in areas where diseases and pests threaten forest health with financial support to increase the health and carbon sequestration potential. For example, New York created a Forestry Cost Share Grant Program.
Establishing grant or cost-share programs to support farmers and ranchers in adopting resilience and emissions-reduction practices as the New Mexico Healthy Soils program has done.
In addition to sequestering carbon in soils and vegetation, lands will physically support economy-wide decarbonization. Building enough renewable power to meet U.S. climate goals will require 115,000 to 250,000 square miles of land to build wind and solar generation as well as new transmission lines to transport energy. But this doesn’t necessarily mean the land devoted to renewable energy can’t continue providing food and habitat.
Agrivoltaics, or the practice of using land for both solar generation and agriculture can provide shade for livestock and crops and provide farmers with an additional source of revenue. Livestock can also graze between wind turbines on rangelands in windy regions.
Local policymakers and land managers need to balance the protection of key wildlife habitat and farmland with the need for infrastructure build-out to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Without immediate and ambitious action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, climate change will continue to threaten the ability of lands to sequester carbon and provide services to communities.
Policy approaches to support responsible clean infrastructure buildout include:
Adopting zoning ordinances or other planning methods to facilitate renewable energy buildout that protects and enhances the most productive agricultural areas and protects key habitats. New Hampshire’s Model Solar Zoning Ordinance offers a framework for leaders to consider community goals and impacts of solar siting to support better decision-making.
Bringing together diverse interests to address barriers to large-scale solar projects and to balance the needs of nature, communities, and climate, as a group in California has done.
4) Increase Community Resilience by Identifying Opportunities for Green Infrastructure
As U.S. cities and towns experience increasing impacts from extreme weather, wildfire and sea level rise, the role of nature as a buffer has never been more important. Investing in nature as infrastructure to protect communities can mitigate the effects of extreme weather and provide water and air quality benefits. Many green infrastructure projects are also restoration and carbon sequestration projects. For example, restoring wetlands in and around cities can increase their ability to sequester carbon, filter water and protect coastal areas from erosion and storm surges.
Green infrastructure can save cities and utilities money by lowering water treatment costs and preventing weather-related damage, so innovative financing mechanisms are often available for these projects. WRI and Blue Forest’sForest Resilience Bond helps the U.S. Forest Service, local water utilities and other partners secure private finance for forest resilience projects that could save utilities millions of dollars in the long term.
While green infrastructure can provide important services to communities, these services are not equitably distributed. Urban trees and parks can cool city streets, sequester carbon and improve air quality, but many low-income neighborhoods have far fewer trees than wealthier neighborhoods. Improving tree equity in these neighborhoods is critical to creating livable cities for all residents and support local livelihoods.
Policy approaches to support green infrastructure include:
Adopting legislation that leverages private capital to fund restoration and environmental benefits like Maryland has done through its Conservation Finance Act.
Creating grant programs to support urban tree planting as Wisconsin has done through its Regular Urban Forestry Grants.
Accessing funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which delivered $43.3 billion for state water quality projects, and is distributed through the State Clean Water Revolving Loan Funds. Some states, such as Ohio, have had success leveraging these funds for stream restoration projects that improve water quality.
A People-centered Approach to Land Management
Land management strategies that support local livelihoods and well-being while delivering climate benefits are more likely to have sustained success in the long term. However, securing positive local outcomes for a project can be challenging because opinions about land management can be deeply tied to cultural, spiritual and economic values. Project funders and policymakers may also have expectations about the outcomes of a project that do not align with local desires or expectations. Research suggests that the following strategies can create successful projects and policies:
Policy and project design should go beyond consulting local stakeholders — stakeholders should have continuous input starting from the initial stages of project development, as well as participate in project governance with clear dispute-resolution mechanisms in place. Initiatives should also involve all affected groups in designing and executing a project or policy, especially marginalized groups, to create durable and equitable outcomes.
Government agencies should create collaborative resource management approaches to managing state and federal protected lands. This allows tribes or local stakeholders to co-manage land with agencies.
Establishing Community Benefit Agreements can help guarantee local employment and other benefits to a community in exchange for their participation in a project.
Projects that remove carbon can be incorporated into climate resilience and adaptation planning to ensure that projects are beneficial to communities. Resilience, adaptation and climate mitigation projects should include funding for measuring and monitoring carbon and other benefits to make sure projects have impact over time.
This article was originally published by the World Resources Institute. Access the original article here.
Conservation, restoration, and improved stewardship of forests, wetlands, oceans, and farmlands around the world can provide up to a third of the emissions reductions we need to prevent the worst effects of climate change. These actions are frequently also some of the most cost-effective solutions available – and they’re ready for countries to implement today.
A herd of buffalo in Yellowstone National Park. Photo courtesy: CAJC/Flickr
Improving ecosystem management and restoring degraded habitats both hold huge promise to help us pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Even if increasing carbon storage is the primary goal, making ecosystems healthier and more functional can also increase other essential ecosystem services. For example, improved forest management practices can reduce erosion and support water cycling processes, which can in turn reduce costs for communities who rely on forested watersheds for their drinking water.
Still, the expert body on climate change – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC – identifies protecting and conserving existing ecosystems as one of the best options we have. In its latest reports, the world’s scientists concluded that only photovoltaic solar and wind energy have more potential for affordable climate mitigation than reducing ecosystem conversion. Many of the world’s ecosystems hold “irrecoverable carbon”, carbon they have captured and stored over decades or even centuries. If it is released because of human activity, these ecosystems could not re-capture that carbon in the next few decades, a critical period to reduce climate change.
Coral reefs, like this one at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, host a plethora of biodiversity and support thousands of species. Photo credit: Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Flickr
Biodiversity conservation is another huge benefit of avoiding the conversion of ecosystems to other land uses such as farming or urban development. Keeping ecosystem carbon in plants and soils also preserves valuable habitat for wildlife to forage and raise their young. For example, boreal forests and wetlands in North America, which hold enormous amounts of carbon in their soils, are home to mammals such as the woodland caribou and the snowshoe hare and offer essential breeding habitat to birds such as the whooping crane and the Cape May warbler.
World leaders and decision makers shouldn’t overlook our coasts at COP28, either. Actions to sequester and store “blue carbon” in oceans and coastal areas remain badly underfunded. Today, only 9% of all funding for nature-based solutions targets actions in marine areas. But conservation of carbon-rich coastal ecosystems would be a win for the climate and wildlife alike.
Take seagrass meadows: these lush underwater ecosystems pull carbon from the atmosphere at an astonishing rate and trap carbon-rich sediments among roots and stems. Although they only cover a fraction of a percentage of the ocean, researchers estimate that seagrass meadows are responsible for about 10% of carbon burial in the ocean. Yet seagrass meadows disappear at alarming rates. Key opportunities include addressing threats to seagrass meadows, such as nutrient pollution from rivers and disturbance of the seafloor related to fishing or mining, and restoring degraded meadows.
Our pathways for success are clear. What we need is to ensure sufficient funding is invested into natural climate solutions such as these for years to come. In part three of this series, we’ll explore how we can use natural climate solutions to adapt to the effects of climate change and increase community resilience.
In recent years, the United States government has significantly increased its support for the implementation of Natural Climate Solutions on American natural and working lands. This surge in funding has paved the way for a diverse array of programs aimed at expanding the adoption of these innovative strategies across the nation. Natural Climate Solutions encompass land management approaches designed to harness the power of forests, farms, grasslands, coastal ecosystems, and urban environments to either reduce greenhouse gas emissions or capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. These solutions not only address climate change, but they also help restore wildlife habitat, improve water quality, increase the productivity of our farms, create jobs, and protect our communities from storms and floods.
The Farm Bill in particular is a vital opportunity to put out our farmers, ranchers, and foresters at the center of the solution and forge a sustainable and productive future by:
Providing financial and technical assistance for farmers to adopt climate smart practices that also improve soil health and water quality.
Helping communities plant and maintain urban trees.
Preserving America’s forests and grasslands for future generations.
Preventing catastrophic wildfires and restoring forests impacted by fire.
Additionally, a climate-smart Farm Bill provides a bipartisan path forward to ensuring we meet our climate goals.
Below is a selection of programs successfully implementing Natural Climate Solutions with the assistance of federal funding:
Impactful Programs Supported by Farm Bill Funding:
Other projects funded by federal programs or potential candidates for funding:
Urban trees offer numerous benefits, including filtering air and water, conserving energy, providing animal habitat, and reducing energy costs. They can also mitigate carbon dioxide emissions significantly.
Disparities in tree cover exist between low- and high-income neighborhoods, as well as between communities of color and white communities. This inequity leads to various negative impacts on health and well-being.
The Treesilience initiative, a collaboration involving The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service, and community-based organizations, aims to reduce tree cover disparities by planting, maintaining, and replacing trees in urban neighborhoods. It prioritizes communities with the greatest need.
In Chicago, the Imani Green Health Advocates program trains advocates in urban forestry and community health, with a focus on planting trees in high-need areas. The program provides career opportunities and improves community well-being.
The St. Louis Treesilience program removes hazardous trees and replants two trees for every one removed, focusing on areas with threatened or lost canopy. It aims to improve respiratory health in communities with high air pollution rates and receives federal funding support for urban reforestation efforts.
Federal funding is essential for supporting urban tree canopy projects like Treesilience, utilizing grants from agencies like the USDA Forest Service to address tree cover disparities and promote reforestation, with efforts underway to amend legislation to ensure urban initiatives are integrated into broader reforestation goals.
The benefits of urban trees are well documented. According to the USDA Forest Service, “urban forests help to filter air and water, control storm water, conserve energy, and provide animal habitat and shade.” They also provide tangible financial benefits to communities, with one study finding that urban trees can reduce energy use in residential areas by an average of 7.2%, saving billions of dollars.
Urban trees also provide benefits for climate. Indeed, research from American Forests and The Nature Conservancy reveals that planting 522 million to 1.2 billion trees in urban areas could mitigate between 8.7 million and 25.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year respectively – equivalent to removing between 1.94 million and 5.74 million cars from the road. To realize these benefits, it isn’t enough to just plant trees – it is also necessary to maintain the trees after they are planted to ensure that they survive and thrive. Failure to plan for trees’ long-term survival can lead to the rapid death of newly planted trees. It’s also incredibly important to maintain large, long-lived mature trees currently providing optimal benefits while new trees grow large enough to do the same.
Unfortunately, the benefits of urban trees are not spread equitably across American communities. A national tree survey conducted by The Nature Conservancy, mapping urban tree canopy in 5,723 U.S. cities and towns reveals widespread inequity in tree cover between low- and high-income neighborhoods in U.S. cities, finding that, on average, there is 15.2% higher-tree cover in higher-income neighborhoods compared to lower-income areas. Furthermore, research by American Forests shows that the majority of communities of color have, on average, 33% less tree cover than the majority of white communities. This leads to higher temperatures, increased energy costs, fewer opportunities for outdoor recreation, and less resilience to storms and flooding in these communities. All these factors contribute to diminished health and well-being, particularly for communities of color, compared to white and/or affluent communities.
TREE EQUITY Disparities in tree cover exist between low- and high-income neighborhoods, as well as between communities of color and white communities. This inequity leads to various negative impacts on health and well-being. The orange areas in the images above show areas with poor tree equity scores (including low tree canopy). Source: American Forests’ Tree Equity Score tool for south Chicago (left) and St. Louis (right).
Treesilience: Community-Led Efforts To Increase & Maintain Urban Tree Cover
Treesilience, a national initiative administered through a partnership among The Nature Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service, Davey Tree Expert Company, and myriad community-based organizations, agencies, and industry partners, began in Chicago in 2020, and then spread to Orlando and St. Louis. The initiative is aimed at reducing disparities in tree cover and eliminating barriers to healthy tree canopy by removing and replacing dead or dying trees, maintaining and pruning existing trees, and planting new trees in urban neighborhoods where tree canopy has been threatened or lost. Importantly, the Treesilience program does not just focus on planting trees – it also helps maintain existing mature trees to ensure they remain healthy and strong. Efforts are targeted toward communities with the most need using the best available science. The program is administered jointly with community organizations – like Imani Village, Missouri ReLeaf, Beyond Housing, and Pine Hills Community Council – and when possible, young emerging professionals from within the community are engaged in the work, providing new pathways for careers in arboriculture.
Treesilience is currently active in Chicago, St. Louis, and Orlando, with plans to expand into additional U.S. cities and states. Read on to learn more about two of these programs.
Chicago: Urban Forestry with Imani Green Health Advocates & Treesilience
Rachel Patterson, a lifelong resident of the South Side of Chicago, initially believed that her Environmental Studies degree would not offer many career opportunities in her local area. However, her perspective changed when she discovered the Imani Green Health Advocates internship, the program through which Treesilience is implemented in Chicago.
This initiative, a collaboration between Imani Village, Trinity United Church of Christ, Advocate Health Care, Chicago Region Trees Initiative, The Morton Arboretum, The Nature Conservancy, and the USDA Forest Service, focuses on professional development and career training in three areas: environmental health, community health, and spiritual health. The advocates engage in outreach efforts within various neighborhoods on Chicago’s south and west sides, including Pullman, West Pullman, Cottage Grove Heights, Washington Heights, Roseland, and Chatham, addressing aspects of physical and mental health, landscape health, and spiritual well-being.
The Imani Green Health Advocates program is part of a larger, 23-acre, sustainable mixed-use development known as Imani Village, spearheaded by leaders and parishioners from Trinity United Church of Christ. Imani Village includes an urban farm, organic garden, NCAA sports complex, retail center, health clinic, youth development center, and community housing.
Sustainability and meaningful employment are central to Imani Village’s approach to community health, and this philosophy is reflected in the Imani Green Health Advocates program. The Advocates receive comprehensive training in urban forestry, tree health, and urban landscapes, with guidance from The Nature Conservancy and partners.
COMMUNITY ACTION The Imani Green Health Advocates program trains advocates in urban forestry and community health, with a focus on planting trees in high-need areas. The program provides career opportunities and improves community well-being. Photos by Joel Zavala/TNC.
Now in its fifth year, more than 20 advocates have been a part of the program, helping survey tree health and canopy in Chicago’s neighborhoods, identifying ideal locations for tree planting, and setting a goal of responsibly planting 50 trees per year in high-need communities. The tree-health findings are incorporated into Advocate Hospital’s community health needs assessment, and today Chicago residents can also request a tree or tree removal through the City’s CHI311 mobile app.
According to Patricia Eggleston, the Executive Director of Imani Village, the goal is to create a holistic and healthy lifestyle for the community, providing opportunities for meaningful careers and well-paid employment. As the program progresses, more permanent job placements are envisioned for the Advocates. For Rachel, the program expanded her resume through work with organizations like Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium and Audubon Great Lakes. She has also returned to the program as a guest presenter, sharing her story and conducting workshops with new cohorts of Advocates.
The collaborative efforts of Imani Village and its partners not only aim to create career opportunities for local residents but also to empower the community and improve overall health and well-being. With the continued growth of the Imani Green Health Advocates program and the amenities provided by Imani Village, the South Side of Chicago looks forward to becoming a vibrant and sustainable community for its residents.
Treesilience St. Louis: Growing a Resilient Tree Canopy
A healthy urban tree canopy provides a multitude of ecological, economic and social benefits that can enhance the overall quality of life. But threats to these trees – like life-threatening tree insects or pathogens – can weaken and even kill trees over time. These threats are worsening over time, largely due to climate change. In brief, these life-saving organisms go from benefit to burden, sometimes in a matter of a few years as can be the case for ash trees impacted by emerald ash borer. Frustratingly, costs associated with tree removal or mature tree pruning can be prohibitive for many. And, the longer dead or dying trees remain on one’s property, the greater the risk they pose, which can leave residents feeling less favorable toward trees, understandably. Hazardous tree removals or pruning can bring peace of mind to homeowners and communities, and perhaps even begin to restore relationships with trees over time.
That was the case for Dorothy Collins, who lives in the Pine Lawn neighborhood in north St. Louis County. In December 2021, the St. Louis Treesilience program officially kicked off in her front yard with the removal of a large sweetgum tree that had a huge stress fracture and was posing a threat to her house and more importantly, her safety.
For every tree removed in St. Louis, the team replants two trees in its place through a partnership with Forest ReLeaf of Missouri’s tree nursery.
The initiative focuses on areas where canopy is either threatened or already lost, and prioritizes communities where neighbors stand to gain the most from increased canopy, which is also the case for Collins. Communities in and around north St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis have high rates of air pollution and asthma-related hospitalizations.
“Community trees provide us significant benefits, and we believe that everyone deserves access not only to trees and greenspaces but to healthy trees and greenspaces,” Rachel Holmes, The Nature Conservancy’s urban forestry strategist, says. “Studies have shown that respiratory health can be improved by the expansion of healthy tree cover in areas with higher air pollution.”
The effects of Treesilience are lasting, but they start paying off immediately. At the program kick off, Collins shared her gratitude with the program partners for the removal and also her two new trees
“I’m thankful for everyone here and I’m relieved to get rid of that tree…I really am,” Collins said, adding that she is excited to watch her new trees grow.
Federal Support for Scaling Urban Forestry Program
Treesilience offers an important example of how combined federal funding sources that support both rural and urban forests can help advance the national climate agenda, overall, particularly through comprehensive reforestation. According to research shared by both American Forests and The Nature Conservancy through the Reforestation Hub, approximately 19% of the reforestation potential in the United States is in urban landscapes. Additionally, major tree insects and diseases are often discovered in urban trees and forests first.
Federal funding sources that support Treesilience – which is, at its core, a reforestation program – include a grant from the USDA Forest Service’s Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR) competitive grants program, which leverages both public and private resources to support collaborative, science-based restoration of forested landscapes, particularly in rural communities. These funds support Treesilience in North St. Louis County, where the population size of the 24 individual municipalities that make up the region qualify as ‘rural.’ Accordingly, Treesilience is an example of how LSR funding can not only support this urban forestry program, but also help meet broader U.S. reforestation goals.
Efforts are currently underway to revise the 2023 Farm Bill, the Congressional authority for the LSR grant program, to ensure that LSR applications for projects on urban landscapes may be fully considered alongside projects in rural communities, reflecting the need for a more comprehensive reforestation approach.
Programs like Imani Green Health Advocates (and/or organizations like Missouri ReLeaf) are also funded through generous support from the Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) Program, which recently received a $1.5 billion boost in funding under the Inflation Reduction Act. The UCF Program provides technical, financial, and educational assistance to help urban communities increase and maintain healthy tree cover, with an emphasis on providing assistance to nature-deprived communities. This program is also authorized through the Farm Bill, making that particular legislation indispensable to nationwide efforts to expand tree cover and ensure the benefits of trees are enjoyed in all communities, while also tapping into the full potential of urban trees to address climate change.
Agroforestry, which involves integrating trees into agriculture, is a vital solution to climate change. Trees’ deep roots help manage water, sequester carbon, and mitigate the impacts of extreme weather, making them powerful allies in adapting to and mitigating climate change.
Demonstration farms play a crucial role in educating farmers and the public about agroforestry. They serve as practical examples, helping people understand how agroforestry works and learn all the benefits of regenerative farming.
The are several barriers to agroforestry adoption, including land access, upfront investments, and a lack of experienced practitioners. Addressing these obstacles is essential to encourage more farmers to embrace agroforestry practices.
Policy support, particularly through USDA programs and the Farm Bill, is essential for scaling up agroforestry adoption. We need policy changes that recognize agroforestry’s role in addressing climate change and offer financial incentives for its implementation.
Despite the challenges posed by climate change, agroforestry is a transformative practice that can positively impact biodiversity, habitat restoration, and rural communities, offering a brighter and more stable future for agriculture and the environment.
Most people have no idea what agroforestry is. And they especially don’t know what it looks like. Displaying agroforestry on demonstration farms allows people to understand how trees fit into farm landscapes.
As the Director of Demonstration Farms at the Savanna Institute, a nonprofit organization working to lay the groundwork for widespread agroforestry in the Midwest, I help people better understand what agroforestry is, as well as the multiple benefits it can provide to farmers. Demonstration farms can serve as a blueprint for how the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s programs and policy initiatives, like the 2023 Farm Bill, could support the expansion of agroforestry plantings.
Agroforestry 101
Agroforestry has a lot of definitions, but simply put, it’s the integration of trees into agriculture. By this definition, agroforestry has been practiced for thousands of years, and in thousands of different ways, across the world. A few key practices are especially promising for the Midwestern United States, such as alley cropping (rows of trees growing within rows of crops) and windbreaks (rows of trees planted along the edges of fields to reduce wind, pesticide drift and soil erosion).
So much of our country’s landscape now is foreign to what it looked like 30 years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago, and 300 years ago. All the amazing soil that we have here in the heartland is because of the prairies and savannas that were here. This history is extremely important, because while ‘agroforestry’ can be seen as a set of USDA practices, it’s way more than that. It’s generations of people that have been working with trees up to the present day. So, agroforestry is not only directly related to what happened in the past, but it directly informs what will happen in the future.
Agroforestry’s Role in Preparing for Climate Change
As we’re entering this time of uncertain weather patterns, farmers sometimes have no rain at all. Other times, an incredible amount of water comes onto farm landscapes all at once. Trees can play an important role in navigating this challenge. The amazing thing about trees is they have deep root systems that allow water to spread out and sink in. The perennial roots of tree crops allow them to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather while also sequestering greenhouse gases and reducing climate change directly.
Because of the powerful role that trees can play on farm landscapes, agroforestry has everything to do with climate change. Trees are some of our most powerful allies we have when it comes to adapting and mitigating a changing climate. There’s nothing more efficient than a tree when it comes to storing carbon at deep levels of soil where we need to hold it in place. And what makes trees even more exciting is they can be productive. We can put trees on landscapes in a way that is doing something for climate change, but also adding value to farmlands, either through conservation or through the production of new crops.
Drought and Planning
I have seen first-hand the impacts a changing climate is already having on farmers. Through my work at the Savanna Institute, I manage the Hudson Demonstration Farm, a privately owned, 120-acre farm in central Illinois that serves as an agroforestry demonstration site through an innovative 50-year lease agreement with the landowner. Agroforestry is being established on all of the 120 acres, in combination with corn, soybeans, and other common Midwestern crops. In 2023, a severe drought created challenges for our agroforestry work, as well as for the alley crop farmer’s soybean production.
Even though farms in Central Illinois are seeing the driest soil we’ve had since the eighties, the trees we planted here are doing just fine, and even trees that were planted as recently as last year seem to be doing reasonably well thanks to deeper roots that can access moisture farther down in the soil. The crops that are struggling most with the drought are annual crops, like the corn and soybeans that are grown across much of Illinois and the Midwest. However, growing trees close to these annual crops can actually help them access water too, by drawing up moisture higher in the soil profile where shorter crop roots can access it.
While this drought has led to challenges, it has also provided an opportunity to demonstrate how to farm in an increasingly chaotic climate. The future of agriculture is happening right now on these demonstration farms. As the weather gets more extreme, farmers will be forced to do things differently.
On-Farm Education
For agroforestry to gain broader acceptance, it is important for it to be highly visible. Demonstration farms can play a powerful role in bringing people out to learn more about agroforestry.
The Savanna Institute utilizes Hudson Farm, along with its broader network of demonstration farms throughout the Midwest, to conduct education and outreach for greater agroforestry adoption. This includes field days, private tours, research, an agroforestry apprenticeship program, and a new video series about the farms.
This education is very important, because agroforestry requires the thoughtful management of multiple systems at once, such as tree crops in combination with grains, vegetables, or livestock. This offers the potential for “overyielding” – achieving productivity above 100% due to multiple crops in the same space – but it also increases the number of things that can go wrong. Our demonstration farms help us find ways to co-exist, while also providing opportunities to document and learn from our mistakes, so others don’t make the same mistakes again.
One of the reasons why I’m drawn to this work is because we are showing that the corn and soybean production with large tractors guided by GPS and increasingly advanced technology can exist alongside the use of trees. The future of agriculture is to do both. Both of these things CAN happen at the same time.
Costs and Barriers
Why isn’t agroforestry more common in the Midwest? A number of significant barriers stand in the way. Land access for aspiring agroforesters, either through land ownership or a favorable long-term lease, remains out of reach for many. Because tree crops usually require significant up-front capital and labor investment with no immediate payback, providing financial mechanisms to fund agroforestry establishment is a primary need. A shortage of nursery stock for preferred agroforestry crops, as well as a lack of farmers with sufficient agroforestry management experience, also represent limiting factors.
For example, if a farmer is planting a chestnut tree, that tree is not going to produce its first chestnuts for around five years, and they’re not going to come into full production until around their twelfth year. This means that farmers are required to make a significant investment of time, labor, and money before those trees start to produce, which can be really hard when operating farms on tight margins. In Midwest agriculture, we’re usually focused on short-term economics instead of long-term economics, and that can be a barrier for some farmers.
Another barrier is that there simply are not a lot of people doing agroforestry. A person might be the only one in their community that’s planting tree crops or doing agroforestry on their farm, and that can get really lonely after a while. Hopefully as we spread the word about agroforestry, this will become less of a barrier for agroforestry adopters.
USDA Support for Agroforestry
While some of these barriers can be addressed by organizations like the Savanna Institute, others require innovation by policymakers or financial institutions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) can be a powerful change agent in scaling up widespread implementation of agroforestry, and a number of USDA programs are already supporting its adoption. Through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), landowners can access cost share funding for the cost of planting trees, as well as the loss of income from taking land out of annual production.
Indeed, at the Hudson Demonstration Farm, the USDA helped pay for every tree that was planted. At Hudson, the NRCS’ Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) supports the establishment and maintenance of the windbreak and pollinator plantings while the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) supports three different types of alley cropping. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) can also help pay for costs associated with Agroforestry establishment. EQIP is a particularly powerful program for people that may not have commodity crop land, including specialty crop growers or livestock producers who want to establish agroforestry.
SUPPORTING FARMERS The USDA can be a powerful change agent in scaling up widespread implementation of agroforestry, with programs like the Conservation Reserve Program, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program helping farmers with the establishment and maintenance of practices like alley cropping and windbreaks. Photos by Alita Films.
Another USDA effort, the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities program, is pulling together people working in agroforestry into regional hubs that allow us to scale agroforestry where they are located and deploy it throughout the United States. Led by The Nature Conservancy in collaboration with multiple partners, this five-year grant establishes six regional hubs in the eastern US and Hawaii. Agroforestry currently represents less than 2% of U.S. agriculture. This project aims to create 30,000 acres of new agroforestry plantings over the next five years.
In 2023, Congress has the opportunity to expand the USDA’s support for agroforestry through the Farm Bill, legislation that touches the life of every single person in the US, whether we know it or not. When it comes to agroforestry, there is a major opportunity to put in place a transformative Farm Bill, providing opportunities to tweak some existing programs to make them more friendly to agroforestry, while also providing additional funding for agroforestry research, technical assistance, and adoption. It is vital that we let policy makers know that agroforestry is important to us, that it is a climate change solution, that it is an economic opportunity, and that historic investment will help accelerate that adoption even faster.
Returning to Agroforestry
Despite dealing with the consequences of climate collapse on a daily basis, I am still hopeful about the future. As a parent, I sometimes feel that having children and planting trees is part of the same work: fostering a better, brighter, more stable future. A few years back, I was out working on an agroforestry farm and heard a bobwhite quail call from the windbreak. I started weeping, right there in the field, because I hadn’t heard that sound since I was a child. Through planting trees, that farm had built a habitat for a bird that no longer existed in the area and they came back. Being able to watch the land change, regenerate, and diversify thanks to agroforestry fills me with the same emotions as watching my children grow.
I think that trees have the opportunity to bring people back to the land, to farms, to their communities and rural areas, and to places where they feel like they can be hopeful and that they can build their lives around that. And while planting a tree is simple, it’s the first step in that transformation.
