The Forest Legacy Program (FLP) “is a conservation program administered by the U.S. Forest Service in partnership with State agencies to encourage the protection of privately owned forest lands through conservation easements or land purchases.”237 Under the program, private landowners may sell property outright or may retain ownership and sell their development rights through conservation easements. Although the federal government can acquire interests in land under the FLP, it operates primarily through the “State grant option,” under which USDA provides “grants to States for acquisition and allows States to hold the title to the lands or interests in lands acquired with those funds.”238

The Farm Bill is a super important piece of legislation. The estimated expenditure for the next 5 years are $648 billion, which is about $160 billion larger than the Inflation Reduction Act expenditures. The Farm Bill only gets reauthorized every five years and the next reauthorization is in 2023.  Watch for Farm Bill congressional hearings near you. NY, CA and other big ag states are also conducting Farm Bill hearings sponsored by the state agriculture departments. I testified at one and found our state folks very open to communicating messages re climate to their USDA colleagues working on the Farm Bill.

By the way, if any of you want to work with me more on the Farm Bill, my name is Marianne Krasny and my email is mekrasny@gmail.com. I am posting numerous Farm Bill actions on Climate Action Now.

Thanks for supporting strong climate action in the Farm Bill!