Hello Friends! Today we have an important comment-writing opportunity that will impact how the federal government measures old-growth forests.
Biden makes a deadline
On Earth Day, President Biden made an executive order that extols the benefits of old-growth forests and calls for a national inventory of this rare habitat within one year.
But the language of the E.O. parrots the prevailing chainsaw-wielding philosophy of the Forest Service. It emphasizes “restoration”, “resilience”, and “fire suppression,” which the Forest Service has, time and again, used as a blank check to log our wild forests.
It also doesn’t stop old-growth logging during the inventory, which we know first hand: we stopped the massive Hungry Ridge-End of the World timber sales in court by showing they didn’t adequately protect old-growth (as required by the forest plan), not by hand waving at the president’s order.
Old-growth cannot be managed, created, or enhanced by humans. But it can be protected.
The defining features of old-growth landscapes are centuries-long patterns of disturbances (including insects, disease, and wildfire) without human management. The only way to ensure its survival is to leave it alone, beyond the reach of chainsaws, bulldozers, and agency shell games.
I strongly encourage you to follow the link below and tell the Forest Service what really needs to happen: stop all old-growth logging on all public lands, and identify old-growth landscapes (not just individual old trees) which are critical for storing carbon, cleaning waterways, and supporting native species.
The comment period open until August 30th.
Thank you so much for your help. Without your action our world (for trees and people) would be a lot worse off.