Forests & Trees

The Forests & Trees Project is identifying three to five near-term policy opportunities to incentivize a thriving market, industry, and living-wage workforce to accelerate landscape-level, climate-and-ecosystem friendly forest restoration in the American West.

 Over the next decade, the American West will continue to experience catastrophic, climate-driven wildfires. These wildfires will decimate wildlife and ecosystems and severely impact water supply and human health.

To mitigate these wildfires, approximately 100,000,000 acres of public land forests in the West require ecosystem restoration. A central aspect of restoration involves forest thinning associated with the harvest of small-diameter timber, slash, wood chips, peelings, brush, and other woody vegetation, together with the accelerated use of prescribed fire[i] and wildfires managed for ecosystem benefit.

Currently, there is only a small, climate-friendly market, industry, and living-wage workforce to deal with, at scale, these types of woods. Because of the abundance of small, highly flammable material in forests in the American West, biofuels, along with secondary wood manufacturing, will be important products.

Project Advisors

The Advisors starred below are in the leadership of current or past key Confluence West projects, are colleagues, or serve on the Board of Directors.

  • Lauren Ahkiam, Director, Water Project, LAANE – A New Economy for All

  • Rory Bakke, Hedgehog Sustainability Consulting*

  • Elvy Barton, Senior Policy Analyst, Salt River Project*

  • David Edelson, Senior Advisor, The Nature Conservancy*

  • Travis Joseph, President, American Forest Resource Council

  • Zach Knight, Blue Forest Conservation

  • Jeff Lukas, Principal, Lukas Climate Research; Senior Scientist, Western Water Assessment, NOAA (retired)*

  • Karl Morgenstern Watershed Restoration Program Manager, Eugene Water & Electric Board; Board member, Confluence West*

  • Molly Pitts, Executive Director, Colorado Timber Industry Association*

  • John Shepard, Senior Program Director, Sonoran Institute*

  • Randi Spivak, Public Lands Director, Center for Biological Diversity*

  • David Wear, Senior Consultant, Resources for the Future

  • Jalonne White-Newsome, CEO, Empower4people; former senior program officer Kresge Foundation*

  • Kimery Wiltshire, Executive Director, Confluence West*

  • Steve Whitney, Senior Program Officer, Bullitt Foundation*

  • Marguerite Young, President, East Bay Municipal Water District; Senior Policy Analyst, Service Employees International Union Capital Stewardship Program; Board member Confluence West*

  • Anne Zimmermann, National Director, Water & Wildfire, US Forest Service (retired)*