Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell were among three lawmakers to introduce a bill Wednesday that would allow nonprofit conservation organizations to use bonds to purchase forest lands.

    The Community Forestry Conservation Act of 2009 would allow communities to issue bonds on behalf of private, nonprofit organizations. These organizations could then work with private landowners to purchase tracts of forest and farmland using those bonds, according to a release from Murray’s office.

    This, according to the release, would prevent development while protecting private property rights, and the jobs and businesses that are tied to the land.

    “This bill gives communities a new tool to protect forest land without jeopardizing businesses, jobs and the rights of landowners,” Murray said in the release. “Forest Conservation Bonds will bring the conservation and timber communities together to do what’s right for at-risk forest land and the workers that depend on it.”

    Under the proposed bill, Congress would allow nonprofit organizations to use funds from municipal revenue bond sales to purchase forests. This would allow the organizations to buy lands that are at high risk of development, according to the release. Under the bill, the bonds would be paid off with proceeds from environmentally sensitive timber harvesting techniques.

    The legislation is supported by the Cascade Land Conservancy, US Forest Capital, Washington Forest Law Center, and the Washington Forest Protection Association. Supporters of the bill, which will need to be passed by both houses of Congress, claim it could conserve 2.2 million acres of forest land and preserve 13,000 direct and indirect jobs.

    “People want to conserve working forests and they continue to demand that forest lands be managed in ways that increase long-term public benefit,” Cantwell said in a release. “We can promote long-term conservation without sacrificing jobs and these Forest Conservation Bonds are an essential financial tool that will help us do just that.”