As part of its regular session on Wednesday, the Summit County Council is being asked to join over 70 local governments world-wide to advocate for healthy forests.
The Council is meeting live at the Richins Services Building and also on Zoom.
At about 4:45, council members will talk about an invitation to join in the “Cities4Forests Call to Action.”
Deputy County Manager Janna Young said this stems from a project the council discussed last week—a Public Lands Resilience Fund that would help the county’s watershed cope with wildfires.
“Through that work, we’ve been introduced to this environmental non-profit called World Resources Institute, or WRI. And they are working with the U.S. Forest Service on these innovative financing models that have helped complete these watershed restoration and healthy forest projects across the nation. And so it’s WRI that has formed this coalition of 73 international cities and counties that’s called Cities4Forests. And they’re inviting us to join that coalition as well. And this group is committed to initiatives that better conserve, restore and sustainably manage forests around the world.”
Young said the Call to Action doesn’t require a funding commitment from the county. She said it can raise the county’s profile internationally, and that could attract foreign investors for the Resilience Fund.
