GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- Housing development on privately owned forest land needs to be added to the list of threats to the nation's forests, according to a U.S. Forest Service report issued Wednesday.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a teleconference from Washington, D.C., that he hopes talks held by the Obama administration with landowners will produce recommendations to make preservation of private forest land more profitable, reducing the pressure to sell it for development.
Some small markets pay forest owners to manage their lands to sequester carbon as a hedge against global warming, and for providing ecosystem services, such as providing shade that keeps streams cool for fish, Vilsack noted.
"What we need to do is make sure people are aware of the benefits (forests provide), where we need to be protecting these lands, and also creating innovative and creative ways through the taxing system, through regulations, through contracting and through ecosystem markets to increase profitability," he said.
The report said 56 percent of the nation's forests are privately owned, amounting to 420 million acres. Of that number, 57 million acres face a serious threat from housing development in the next 20 years.
Putting houses in forests breaks up wildlife habitat, makes logging less efficient, creates erosion and sources of pollution that pollute water sources, and makes fight wildfires more difficult, the report said.
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