Of Alabama's 22.9 million acres
of forestland, about 95 percent is privately owned. Many of these
private forests, containing many resources and managed for multiple objectives,
are being developed for housing, retail and manufacturing as the state's
population continues to grow. Alabama's population increased by more
than eight percent in the 1990s to 4.45 million people, and is projected
to continue to increase. Although recent data shows an overall increase
of forested area, the conversion of large areas of
Alabama's forests, including some of our more environmentally important
forests, will continue as the state's
population increases.
In 2000 the Governor appointed the Alabama Forestry Commission as the state lead agency
to develop and administer a Forest Legacy Program in Alabama. The purpose
of the Forest Legacy Program (FLP) is to identify and purchase
environmentally important forestland through the use of conservation easements and fee purchases.
Landowner participation is entirely voluntary. As these
resources are managed, many traditional values and uses of the forests
will continue to be available.
Guidelines for the Forest
Legacy Program required the state lead agency to prepare an Assessment of Need
(AON) in consultation with the Alabama Forest Stewardship Advisory Committee.
An Assessment of
Need Steering Committee was appointed, which worked with the Alabama
Forest Resource
Center to develop
the Assessment of Need document. The AON was completed in September, 2002, and contains valuable resource
information and measures to identify environmentally important forestlands that are being converted to developed urban areas.
The following program objectives were
established to achieve the overall goal of protecting environmentally
important private forestlands in Alabama threatened by conversion to
non-forest uses:
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