Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack sets a new agenda for the Forest Service

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack gave a major Forest Service policy speech in Seattle today.  Wildlands CPR’s Restoration Campaign Coordinator Sue Gunn was able to attend and was very pleased to hear the Secretary’s emphasis on restoration and watershed health as the “driving principle” for Forest Service policy.

While the USDA press release on the speech focused more on timber management and fire than on watershed issues (though it does give quite a few important stats about water), that was apparently not the case with Vilsack’s full speech.  He covered the full range of restoration activities including the importance of reclaiming roads to restore clean water and fisheries habitat.  In his speech he said:

"Our shared vision begins with restoration. Restoration means managing forest lands first and foremost to protect our water resources, while making our forests more resilient to climate change."

To read more quotes from his speech, click here.  In addition, the USDA has also updated some of their water/watershed statistics. According to the press release:

• Nearly 87% of all of the country's fresh water supply originates from forests and agricultural lands and more than 200 million people rely on their drinking water from public and private forests and grasslands;
• 53% of the Nation's total water supply originates from public and private forest lands;
• More than 900 cities rely on national forest watersheds;
• 3,400 public water systems serving 66 million people in 33 states are supplied by watersheds with Forest Service land;
• Public and private forests in the 20 Northeastern and Midwestern States help to protect more the 1,600 drinking water supplies supplying more than 4 trillion gallons per day to households of more than 52 million Americans;
• 80% of the forest area in the United States is outside of the National Forest System;
• The estimated annual value of water from national forests for in-stream uses is at least $3.7 billion.

Vilsack was introduced by Congressman Norm Dicks who extolled the importance of the relatively new Forest Service Legacy Roads program as a primary tool for restoring watershed health in the national forests in Washington and the nation. 

News articles regarding his speech were plentiful on Friday and Saturday - here's one that specifically mentions the road decommissioning priorities.

The USDA has now posted the entire audio from Vilsack's speech, and a written transcript including the introductory remarks by Regional Forester Mary Wagner and Congressman Norm Dicks.

This post was updated on August 17 with the addition of the audio link and other news articles related to the speech.