Pennsylvania's Forests Receive a Moratorium

         

Penn's Woods granted Moratorium

House Approves Moratorium on Leasing State Forest Lands for Gas Drilling

The following information is from State Representative Quinn's newsletter - News You Can Use

This week, the House approved legislation (by a vote of 157-33) to place a three-year moratorium on leasing additional state forest lands for gas drilling and exploration. I voted in favor of this measure. I (Quinn) have heard from many of my constituents on this issue, and I share their commitment to ensuring the protection of our public lands. We should proceed with caution to ensure that we don’t try to fix our budget crisis at the expense of our state forests.

As of today, the state has signed leases for nearly a half-million acres, representing about 40 percent of our state forests  (state forest map). This alone has generated $128 million, or about double, what was expected in revenue. While that money is nice to have, what will this do to the landscape of our state forests? Will it eliminate these forests as the treasure we have seen fit to preserve in the past? And, have we leased too much land already or should we open up more acres of forests for lease to help solve the budget crisis?

The legislation, House Bill 2235, also directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC) to conduct a study of the environmental, economic and societal impacts of the leasing of state lands for Marcellus Shale development. This proposal would only impact new leases, but would not break leases into which the Commonwealth has already entered.

House Bill 2235 is in the Senate awaiting consideration.

Pa Forest Facts from the DCNR:

About 60% (17 million acres) of Pennsylvania is forested. The Commonwealth is the nation's largest producer of hardwood lumber (over 1 billion board feet per year). Individuals and families own about 75% of the forested land and provide 80% of Pennsylvania's timber products. Economic pressures to convert forest land to residential or commercial uses threaten the conservation of private forests.

The State Forest system contains 12% of the forested area, (about 2.1 million acres). This makes it one of the largest expanses of public forestland in the eastern United States. Other public forests include State Game Lands, State Parks and the Allegheny National Forest.

Related post : Pennsylvania's Forests - The Commonwealth's Treasure
                      Sustainable Forestry for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gasses

Source:

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