The Nature Conservancy Endorses Climate Change Task Force Recommendations

Land use policies hold big potential for climate change challenges facing state

MADISON, Wis. — July 24, 2008 — The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin announced its support today for policy recommendations developed by the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change. The proposals, backed by the Conservancy and a majority of the diverse membership of the Task Force, are part of a comprehensive effort to develop a plan for Wisconsin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

The Conservancy emphasized the importance of a number of land use recommendations in the package including the creation of incentives to conserve and restore forests, prairies and other grasslands.

“Scientists inform us that land use is responsible for more than one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mary Jean Huston, Conservancy State Director in Wisconsin. “Our forested and agricultural lands are cornerstones of what makes Wisconsin special in so many ways; today we are acknowledging the great potential these lands hold to slow climate change.”

The land use recommendations, developed by the task force’s Agriculture and Forestry Workgroup, include:

The creation of incentives and resources for the reforestation of suitable lands, including abandoned cropland and other marginal lands.
The creation of payments and incentives to maintain natural habitat on lands that are currently enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). More than half a million acres of CRP lands currently preserving habitat, protecting water quality and storing carbon, could be converted to other uses over the next decade.
Increased state funding for urban tree plantings (supporting The “20 million Trees by 2020” Initiative). Planting trees not only stores more carbon but it also helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by reducing residential heating and cooling needs.

“When taken together, the proposed land use practices proposed have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by tens of millions of metric tons,” said Todd Holschbach, Co-chair of the Agriculture and Forestry Workgroup and Government Relations Director for The Nature Conservancy. “This gives Wisconsin a head start as states deal with the impacts of climate change.”

Click here for a full list of the policy recommendations developed by the Task Force.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. . In Wisconsin, the Conservancy has helped conserve more than 140,000 acres since 1960. The Conservancy has more than 21,000 members in Wisconsin and offices in Madison, Baraboo, East Troy, Minocqua and Sturgeon Bay. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at nature.org/wisconsin.