Collins introduces bill to aid forest protection

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced legislation Monday to fight the threat of suburban sprawl and the eradication of working forests.

The Suburban and Community Forestry and Open Space Act would establish a $50 million grant program within the U.S. Forest Service to support locally driven projects that preserve working forests. State and local governments, as well as nonprofit organizations, could compete for funds to purchase land or conservation easements to keep forestlands, threatened by development, in their traditional use.

The legislation would require that federal grant funds be matched dollar-for-dollar by state, local or private resources. It also would allow nonprofits and municipalities – but not the federal government – to hold title to land or easements purchased under the program.