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# Summary This bill establishes a new Forest Conservation Easement Program that would help protect and restore forest land across the United States. The program, administered by the Department of Agriculture, provides federal funding to purchase conservation easements—legal agreements that limit how forest land can be developed while allowing landowners to continue timber production and other forestry activities. The program creates two types of easements: forest land easements (held by eligible organizations like land trusts and state agencies) and forest reserve easements (held by the federal government, primarily focused on protecting endangered species habitat). The federal government would cover 50 to 75 percent of easement costs depending on circumstances, with particular support for beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged landowners, veterans, and forests of special environmental significance. The bill authorizes $100 million annually from 2024 through 2028 to fund the program and consolidates existing forest protection efforts by replacing the separate Healthy Forests Reserve Program with this new framework.

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