A win in Congress for Maine’s woods, communities

After months of discussion and debate, Congress has overwhelmingly passed the farm bill. Much has been made of this legislation’s likely impact on certain agricultural subsidies and food stamp programs. This conglomeration of old and new programs, national and local interests, and eleventh-hour additions and deletions, is far from perfect. But there’s another story to tell.

It’s a classic Yankee success story that highlights creativity and narrowly tailored solutions to local issues. Thanks to the leadership of Sen. Olympia Snowe and Rep. Mike Michaud, with crucial efforts provided by Sen. Susan Collins, the farm bill will provide an unprecedented level of targeted support to enhance Maine’s communities and promote forest-oriented businesses and outdoor heritage.

Due to Collins’ foresight and determination, the farm bill contains the visionary Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program, which provides new matching funds to municipalities to buy forested open spaces that are close to home and important to local people. Collins developed the bipartisan support necessary to pass this program. It will be open to any Maine community and comes with technical assistance in forest management from state government to insure outstanding forest management. And, in response to the rapidly shrinking amount of private land open to hunting and fishing, lands purchased with funds from this program will remain open and accessible to sportsmen and sportswomen. This program, known by many as the Sportsmen’s Access Amendment, has drawn enthusiastic support from hunters and anglers throughout the country. It is an excellent example of the gains that can be achieved when Maine’s sportsmen and women and land conservation community work together on behalf of Maine’s outdoor heritage.

The new Community Wood Energy Program, championed by Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in the House in partnership with two other freshman members of the Northern Forest delegation, Paul Hodes, D-N.H., and Michael Arcuri, D-N.Y., provides grants and technical assistance to help communities shift heating and power for municipal buildings from fossil-fuel systems to wood chip and biomass systems. The program will give communities the incentives they need to construct, in an open and collaborative process, a “community wood energy plan” to identify how the new biomass systems can be fueled by local lands and the local forest products industry, keeping more resources in local communities and reducing their carbon impact.

Many local Chambers of Commerce, community wellness groups and conservation organizations are especially pleased that Michaud and Snowe were able to ensure that the farm bill creates the Northern Border Economic Development Commission, which will consist of the governors of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The measure was strongly supported by the Northern Forest Alliance and our friends in the Maine Center for Economic Policy. The commission will use a bottom-up approach to provide new grant funding for economic development projects, productive natural resource conservation, technical assistance to the forest products industry, alternative energy projects, job training, infrastructure improvements, land conservation, and other projects critical to our rural counties that are confronting substantial economic challenges.

Importantly for Mainers, the farm bill continues to provide essential support for private forest owners and communities through the Forest Stewardship Program, Urban and Community Forestry Program and Cooperative Extension forestry programs, which will, among other things, provide new funding to develop a cutting-edge statewide forest management plan to guide forest stewardship in Maine. The farm bill also provides increased funding to help landowners and municipalities manage their land through programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program and Healthy Forest Reserve Program. These programs will provide the economic incentives needed to enable private forest owners to manage their lands to sequester carbon, provide habitat for threatened and endangered species, or enhance water quality.

The inclusion of well-funded forestry and community development programs in the farm bill will help Maine retain its forestlands and provide much needed resilience for local communities that are addressing the almost overwhelming economic, natural resource and cultural challenges of our times.

George Gay is executive director of the Northern Forest Alliance, a coalition of conservation, recreation and forestry organizations united in their commitment to protect the Northern Forest of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.