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Log truck-size loopholes remain in a recently announced federal proposal aimed at protecting old-growth forests—loopholes the U.S. Forest Service and timber industry, given their shared culture and historical behavior—will certainly exploit if not closed.
It is commendable that the Biden administration is addressing the need to protect old-growth forests—an essential step in combating the twin crises of species extinction and global warming. Many of you will recall Forests Forever action alerts on this issue (see Resources section at bottom) beginning in 2022 after President Joe Biden unveiled Executive Order 14072 aiming to safeguard these forests.
The newly announced proposal would set in motion the amendment of forest plans on all 154 U.S. national forests, requiring that they adopt old-growth protections. California is home to 18 national forests.
As the process in shaping a final policy has moved forward since then (thanks if you were one of the many who wrote or called!) we at last have before us a proposed rule at the "Scoping" phase. Unfortunately, however, its numerous exceptions would render the new approach ineffective.
For example, old-growth logging would be allowed so long as "economic" reasons were not cited by loggers as the primary justification.
And protection of "mature" forests, which would become the next generation of old-growth, is not addressed at all in the proposal.
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Paul Hughes
Executive Director
Forests Forever
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RESOURCES →
- Here is the official Notice of Intent language describing the proposed new "protections" for old-growth forests.
- Since Earth Day 2022 Forests Forever has published a series of calls to action for mature and old-growth forest protection: here, here, and here.
- This comprehensive interactive map shows forest maturity and stand development in the lower 48 states.
- Forests Forever was among the organizations that signed a recent letter to top federal agency officials concerning mature and old-growth forest rulemaking.
- This video (4:46) shows how satellite-based LiDAR technology is being used to inventory old-growth forests.
- The Climate Forests Coalition, of which Forests Forever is a member, in its recent America's Vanishing Climate Forests report flagged the 10 most-concerning logging projects proposed on national forests, including the South Fork Project in California's Klamath National Forest. Not one of the 10 projects cited economic reasons as the primary purpose for the proposed cutting.