Updates
November 10, 2009 - All North Carolinians are stewards of our forest resources, and the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources (DFR) is directed to lead the people of our state to develop, protect and manage these resources to ensure that they will be conserved now and sustained for future generations. This is a daunting task and we must work together as partners to be successful. Periodic reviews of our forest resources are needed to evaluate their ever-changing status and to access the ability of DFR programs to meet the conservation and sustainability directives listed above. The DFR is undertaking a statewide assessment of North Carolina's forest resources that will evaluate and analyze the past and current conditions and project the future conditions of these resources. This will help us plan for the conservation of these resources and the associated economic, ecological and public benefits these resources provide. We plan to complete this assessment in the spring 2010.
North Carolina’s State-Wide Forest Resource Assessment and Associated Resource Strategy (SFRAARS) consists of four major phases, which will take approximately 20 months to develop and conduct. Phase one, the scoping and planning phase, has been completed. Through this phase the working framework for conducting the assessment was developed, stakeholder input was obtained and the timeline was finalized. During phase one, six working groups were identified and 39 partners were asked to participate in the assessment.
Currently North Carolina is completing the second phase of the project, the assessment phase. The six working groups used GIS overlays to track trends, risks and threats to the forest resources in an effort to delineate priority rural and urban forest landscapes. The draft GIS layers and reports for each working group are currently being compiled. The assessment reflects the collective wisdom of DFR professionals and 39 cooperators who studied the major issues that forests will face in the coming decade. The assessment is organized along three central themes: 1) Protecting Forest Health, 2) Providing Public Benefits and, 3) Conserving Working Forests. As North Carolina wraps up the second phase of the SFRAARS development process, the working groups are beginning phase three, which involves identifying and developing strategies to address priority rural and urban forest landscape issues identified during the assessment phase. This process will be similar to phase two in scope, with additional partners becoming involved. Phase three will be completed by March 2010.
North Carolina undertook this monumental study to meet the federal mandates of the 2008 Farm Bill and directives to redesign the manner in which they respond to pressing forestry issues regarding public safety, economic benefits and DFR core agency mission.
The SFRAARS offers a unique and historic opportunity to prioritize the forest areas most in need of protection, management and conservation. It is North Carolina’s collective public and private response that will ensure that North Carolinians maintain critical working forest landscapes, their health, and the plethora of public benefits that flow forth from them.
Previous Updates:
- June 29, 2009 (PDF)