As we enter the new millennium and our 125th year of advocacy to protect and sustain our nation's trees and forests, American Forests is introducing a national policy agenda for ecosystem restoration and maintenance. The agenda integrates our interests in urban and rural areas, emphasizes the value of trees in sustaining healthy ecosystems and communities, and builds on broad-based public recognition that many public and private forest lands are in need of restoration and maintenance. It presents a set of core values and goals that will serve as a foundation for our policy activities, guiding our efforts to be proactive in the national policy arena and to respond quickly and effectively to emerging issues. It is also a dynamic agenda that will evolve over time as we learn and as social, economic, and environmental conditions change. We welcome comments on the agenda.

American Forests has developed a national policy agenda presenting its core values and goals toward helping people improve the environment with trees and forests. The agenda focuses on assisting communities in planning and implementing tree and forest actions to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems and communities. It has three overarching goals:

• Provide tools and resources to help build the capacity of communities to assess ecological issues related to trees and forests, and to plan and implement actions;
  
• Increase public and private investment in tree and forest actions to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems and communities;
• Heighten public awareness of the interdependence between ecosystems and communities through accessible research information, inclusive policy dialogue, and communication.

Despite the best efforts of public and private entities, America's urban and rural forests have been damaged and continue to be threatened by human and natural forces, such as sprawling development, lack of care or maintenance, poor harvesting practices, wildfire, and insects and disease. In many places ecosystem integrity is at risk. When trees and forests are damaged, ecological services such as air and water quality and wildlife and fish habitat are degraded and nearby communities suffer, sometimes showing signs of economic and social decline. In order to work toward a vision of sustainable ecosystems and communities, we believe it is necessary to focus on actions to restore and maintain trees and forests as critical components and indicators of healthy ecosystems. Americans from all walks of life, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and political persuasions care deeply about trees and forests. We believe that actions to restore and maintain forest ecosystems represent a common objective among diverse interests and will find broad support in communities across the nation.

Core Beliefs and Principles

• Technical tools, information, and financial assistance are essential to help communities assess ecological issues related to trees and forests, and to plan and implement actions.
• Private landowners must be reached with information about the ecological importance of their lands in the larger landscape and offered technical and financial assistance or incentives to help restore and maintain their lands in forest and conservation uses.
• Planning for ecosystem restoration should be done at a large enough scale to consider the ecological linkages between urban and rural communities, particularly along watersheds.
• Restoration strategies must focus on maintaining the capacity of ecosystems to provide ecological services for all dependent species-human and non-human.
• Long-term investment is needed to restore and maintain ecosystem health and to build the capacity of communities to sustain local economies based on ecosystem stewardship.
• An ecosystem workforce is needed to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems, combining trained workers and citizen volunteers.
• The economic value of the ecological services provided by trees and forests needs greater consideration in natural resource planning and decisionmaking.
• Ecosystem restoration and maintenance efforts should be planned and implemented through open, inclusive, and transparent decisionmaking processes, particularly on public lands.
• Ecosystem research needs to become a civic science involving community participants and providing accessible information for community use.
• A commitment to monitoring ecological, social, and economic conditions is essential to work toward a vision of sustainable ecosystems and communities.

Policy Goals

• Increase support for policy research on the economic value of ecological services provided by trees and forests.
• Increase technical and financial resources available to help communities assess ecosystem conditions and to plan and implement actions.
• Heighten recognition of the public benefits of private forests and promote voluntary and/or incentive-based measures for ecosystem restoration and maintenance efforts by private landowners.
• Encourage open and inclusive public processes in the planning and implementation of ecosystem restoration and maintenance projects.
• Promote laws and policies that encourage collaboration among agencies, interests, and organizations rather than adversarial actions.
• Increase public and private investment in ecosystem restoration and in building the capacity of communities to maintain healthy ecosystems.
• Heighten awareness of the ecological linkages between urban and rural communities.
• Promote the creation of an ecosystem workforce through training and apprenticeship programs and through new job opportunities.
• Promote and ensure funding for innovative monitoring systems to ensure collaborative learning and support adaptive management.
• Promote a "civic science" approach to ecosystem research that respects local knowledge, seeks community participation, and provides accessible