Despite being one of the first landscape level conservation practices in the U.S., forestry is often unfairly characterized as an extractive, land degrading practice by some modern conservation special interest groups. However, forestry is a renewable industry and well managed forest lands have broad conservation value, argue Tom DeLuca and Jeff Hatten of the College of Forestry in a recent article published in the journal Anthropocene. The authors use forestry, which is conducted on regenerated forests and involves timber harvest, tree planting, and forest stand maintenance, as a case study for conservation.

Using a soils-based assessment of different land-use practices, they show that forestry incentivizing land management practices that cause minimal soil disturbance could help advance our nation’s ability to achieve large scale conservation objectives such as 30% of land area conservation by 2030.

Soil, not above-ground vegetation, represents the largest terrestrial body of stored carbon on Earth and a wellspring of biodiversity, and should be at the center of conservation efforts. Land use practices that maximize continual live vegetative cover, minimize bare soil, and maximize native species composition are more likely to protect soil and store a greater amount of carbon.

Adopting or incentivizing land use practices geared toward conservation will allow the United States to meet its goals, while simultaneously providing the population with wood and other forest products necessary for providing climate smart, affordable housing or shelter, and supporting critical ecosystem services including recreation and access to nature. Sustainably using managed forests in the U.S. for our resource needs, rather than relying on countries with lax environmental standards, can help with global conservation goals.

Read the full paper and learn more.