Department of Forestry Forest Carbon and Climate Program

Washington, DC – Dr. Chad Papa, FCCP Director, attended the 9^th American Forest Congress in addition to serving on its steering committee. The Congress brought together over 500 attendees across the entire forestry sector to build consensus and coalesce around ideas, principles, and resolutions to guide the future of forests and the communities that rely upon them. Since the first American Forest Congress in 1882 to the most recent, these seminal events have led directly to major outcomes in the forestry sector, including the creation of the U.S. Forest Service, the establishment of the eastern National Forests, new community-based and collaborative approaches to forestry, and efforts to advance the leadership of women within the forest community.

The 9^th American Forest Congress builds on this legacy and was kicked off by a wonderful talk by Dr. Nalini Nadkarni, a National Geographic Society Explore At Large and pioneering forest ecologist whose work helped transform our understanding of epiphytic plant communities in the rainforests of Costa Rica. The subsequent three days were full of innovative panels spanning workforce development, forest stewardship, conservation, indigenous knowledge, the role of research and development, and science communication. The congress also featured dialogue sessions that fostered opportunities for thought leaders to discuss, learn, and build networks to identify fresh viewpoints and innovate new approaches. However, the most important work throughout the congress was being done in the resolution room. The resolution room provided an interactive forum to co-create principles and resolutions to build consensus, leading to future actions in support of our country’s forests.

At the congress, Dr. Papa, along with FCCP-affiliated faculty member Dr. Emily Silver, co-convened a panel titled “Multisector Strategies for Research and Innovation,” featuring thought leaders to engage in an essential conversation about how to continue to support research and development. Additionally, Dr. Papa along with colleagues Dr. Sara Kuebbing, research scientist – Yale University, and Dr. Chris Woodall, Director of U.S. Forest Science and Policy – CTrees, convened a dialogue titled “Securing the future of U.S. Forest Carbon Science and Policy” which sought to outline how a distributed, multi-actor network of non-federal partners can sustain and accelerate key modeling, guidance, and data delivery services; identify potential anchor institutions; and explore principles for co-governance, transparency, and interoperability for continued support of forest carbon science, management, and policy. See the full agenda here.

The timing of this congress could not have come at a better moment, as forests are coping with a rapidly changing climate. This congress brought together people on every side of the aisle and included special messages from all seven former living USDA Forest Service Chiefs and a bipartisan delegation of sitting congressmembers. We look forward to the publishing of the congress proceedings and using the principles and resolutions as a starting point to continue to galvanize support for forests as a natural climate solution. To learn more about the resolutions and voting process, please visit here.

The FCCP team is grateful to the congress co-hosts, Doris Duke Foundation and American Forests, in addition to all the other sponsors, for making this event possible.