Forests at Work

This issue brief outlines a 'working forests' model for the southern United States, where public entities acquire forestland—either through fee simple purchase or conservation easements—to generate revenue from sustainable timber, recreation, and ecosystem services to fund conservation and provide community benefits.

• The 'working forests' model is proposed as a way to increase publicly protected forestland in the southern U.S., a region that currently lags behind other U.S. regions in the percentage of land base and acres per capita conserved in protective categories such as wildlife refuges and parks.
• Working forests are defined as forests actively managed to produce revenue from multiple sources—including sustainable timber and ecosystem services—to prevent conversion to other land uses like residential development. Public entities can acquire these forests via fee simple purchase or by purchasing development rights through conservation easements.
• Economic benefits of the working forest model include revenues from timber, recreation, and ecosystem service payments (such as carbon sequestration, water quality, and endangered species habitats), as well as increased tax revenue from higher surrounding property values and avoided development costs. These revenues can offset acquisition costs, cover stewardship, or provide taxpayer dividends.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Forests at Work. https://www.wri.org/research/forests-work

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Forests at Work. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/forests-work.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Forests at Work |url=https://www.wri.org/research/forests-work |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendforests, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Forests at Work}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/forests-work}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }