Congress Prioritizes Parity For Forest Landowners Through Easement program

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 17, 2026) — A coalition of conservation, hunter, angler, and forest management organizations and companies applauded inclusion of the Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP), with mandatory funding, in the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. As the nation’s first comprehensive private and tribal forestland conservation easement program, FCEP would give forest landowners the same opportunity other working agricultural landowners have to protect and preserve their working lands. FCEP will fill a critical funding gap to help keep these forestlands intact and sustainably managed for timber.
Private forests comprise 58 percent of all forestland in the U.S. and face significant conversion pressure from housing and urban development. FCEP will keep forests as forests. It will allow willing private and tribal landowners to voluntarily sell their development rights to prevent conversion to non-forest uses. Private forests in an FCEP conservation easement can remain privately owned, working and on tax rolls. Private forests also benefit rural and urban communities by:

• Filtering nearly 30 percent of the nation’s drinking water;
• Providing habitat for 60 percent of at-risk species;
• Supporting 2.5 million jobs; and
• Accounting for 90 percent of the nation’s harvests for forest products.

Groups from around the country praised the inclusion of FCEP in the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026.
“Keeping forests as forests has never been more critical, and we need all willing partners at the table,” said Danielle Watson, senior director of policy at American Forests. “The Forest Conservation Easement Program expands the scope of possibility by embracing new opportunities for Tribes, land trusts, and local governments to steward working forests for water, wildlife, human health, and forest products. American Forests applauds Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Craig as well as other champions for advancing bipartisan legislation that has the potential to significantly expand forest conservation across the country.”
“Forest conservation has been central to the Boone and Crockett Club’s mission since Theodore Roosevelt helped champion the Timberland Reserve Bill in 1891, establishing the principle of forests held in the public trust,” said James L. Cummins, co-chairman of the Boone and Crockett Club Conservation Policy Committee. “While effective, voluntary, easement-based conservation programs exist for nearly every other habitat type, forests remain a notable exception. As pressures on America’s forests intensify and their importance to wildlife, clean water, and rural communities becomes increasingly clear; the Forest Conservation Easement Program is a timely and essential tool to conserve these lands for future generations.”
“Conservation agreements are important, voluntary tools for preventing the conversion of forests to non-forest uses,” said John Culclasure, director of forest policy at the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation. “We commend Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus Members Chairman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson and Ranking Member Angie Craig, as well as the other Members of Congress who are championing this legislation, for including the Forest Conservation Easement Program in the Farm Bill to incentivize landowners to conserve forests and avert fish and wildlife habitat fragmentation. We look forward to working with Congress to advance FCEP to support the sustainable working forests across the country that provide critical access for sportsmen and women.”
“Over the next decade, we’re projected to lose roughly one million acres of forestland each year to fragmentation and conversion,” said Larry Selzer, president and CEO of The Conservation Fund. “The Conservation Fund is dedicated to preserving working forests, which support local jobs and the rural tax base, by addressing the threat of forestland conversion to non-forest uses. We applaud U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, R-P.A., and Ranking Member Angie Craig, D-M.N., for providing an important, missing conservation tool for preserving working forests and look forward to continuing working with leaders in Congress to get this pragmatic and bipartisan FCEP solution enacted.”
“We are losing our forests at an astonishing rate,” said Ashley Demosthenes, CEO of the Land Trust Alliance. “The United States loses approximately half a million acres of privately owned forestland to development each year, at the expense of valuable co-benefits like clean water, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, timber supplies and the health of local economies. Land trusts are uniquely positioned to help private landowners protect and manage their forested lands while also ensuring the public enjoys the benefits that forest conservation provides. Including the Forest Conservation Easement Program in the next farm bill enjoys broad, bipartisan support and will allow land trusts to work with the federal government to ensure that private forests stay as forests and in the hands of local families and small businesses.”
“Conservation easement programs are an important tool that should be available to all private forest owners,” said Dave Tenny, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Forest Owners. “Combined with healthy markets for forest products, conservation easement programs help privately owned forests provide a full range of benefits to rural communities. These include both economic prosperity and maintaining healthy populations of common and at-risk species and the habitats they need. Smart legislation, like the Forest Conservation Easement Program, helps America’s private working forests continue to provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and good paying jobs in rural communities. We applaud Chairman Thompson for including this
legislation in the Farm Bill.”