Clearing the Way: Revealing and Removing Hidden Barriers to Private Land Forest Restoration
Location
USU Eccles Conference Center
Event Website
https://www.restoringthewest.org/
Abstract
Most public policy discussions on forest restoration tend to focus on federal land issues. However, there are approximately 109 million acres of privately owned forests in the western U.S., many of them in the wildland-15
urban interface and many in important watersheds. Yet while virtually every state and county land use plan calls for healthy, well-managed forests and watersheds, landowners seeking to restore their forests often face a maze of obstacles. Many of these are not immediately visible to the public or to policy makers but can create significant impediments to management and restoration. One decades-long journey to restore a forested watershed reveals the many hidden challenges landowners face and how state and local governments could help clear the path.
Clearing the Way: Revealing and Removing Hidden Barriers to Private Land Forest Restoration
USU Eccles Conference Center
Most public policy discussions on forest restoration tend to focus on federal land issues. However, there are approximately 109 million acres of privately owned forests in the western U.S., many of them in the wildland-15
urban interface and many in important watersheds. Yet while virtually every state and county land use plan calls for healthy, well-managed forests and watersheds, landowners seeking to restore their forests often face a maze of obstacles. Many of these are not immediately visible to the public or to policy makers but can create significant impediments to management and restoration. One decades-long journey to restore a forested watershed reveals the many hidden challenges landowners face and how state and local governments could help clear the path.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/rtw/2017/Oct18/11
Comments
Lesli is a founding member and executive director of the Western Landowners Alliance, an organization of landowners working to advance the ecological health and economic prosperity of working lands in the American West. She is also a founding member of the Chama Peak Land Alliance. Through both organizations, Lesli has worked extensively with private landowners and multiple stakeholders to advance conservation, sustain working lands and support rural communities.
Prior to her work with these organizations, Lesli managed a large ranch the southern San Juan Mountains of Colorado. During her 16-year tenure, Lesli implemented progressive conservation management through award-winning programs in restoration forestry, prescribed fire, grazing, stream restoration, hunting and wildlife management, and scientific research and monitoring. Lesli holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.A. from St. John’s College, Santa Fe.