Climate Action Now

Ask the Senate to improve S2991 - America’s Revegetation and Carbon Sequestration Act
According to Earthjustice: S. 2991- America’s Revegetation and Carbon Sequestration Act The undersigned organizations appreciate the sponsors’ recognition of the need to take a proactive approach to climate adaptation on our federal lands. Doing so is an opportunity to: conserve native ecosystems and restore biodiversity, for instance, by protecting climate refugia, habitat for native-especially imperiled species, and corridors; restore ecosystem services such as aquifer recharge and erosion control; upscale the availability and use of locally adapted native plants and seeds in restoration endeavors; and eradicate invasive species. Legislation intent on confronting the climate crisis would benefit from direction to protect old growth and mature forests, which is among the most effective ways to store and sequester carbon and conserve forest biodiversity. We support establishing a more robust, intentional, and coordinated effort to address two very serious problems: 1) invasive plants and the damage that they are wreaking on our public lands across the west, and 2) the insufficient supply of seeds from native plants that is a major barrier to ecological restoration and other revegetation projects across the United States and especially our federal lands. Relative to these topics, the bill would benefit from a more explicit focus on restoring native ecosystems (as opposed to cover) which is more likely to result in sustainable and naturally biodiverse landscapes able to withstand perturbations and stresses. Further, while the bill addresses the supply of tree seeds, it completely neglects the supply of non-tree seeds that are needed to combat invasive grasses and restore resilient grasslands, shrublands, and savannas. To remedy this, a section should be added to the bill that provides for federal coordination and leadership and necessary investments for building a significantly more robust (non-tree) native seed supply and industry as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences in its 2023 report entitled “An Assessment of Native Seed Needs and the Capacity for Their Supply: Final Report.”
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