As the comment period on the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS) National Old-Growth Amendment comes to a close on Friday, environmental groups from across North Carolina held a virtual press conference on Tuesday to bring attention to the issue and encourage the public to press the Forest Service for stronger protections for North Carolina’s old-growth forests.
Due to decades of logging, very few of the state’s old-growth forests remain. These rare forests provide crucial habitat for endangered species and absorb more planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than younger trees. Yet, they continue to be at risk from logging.
Based on a new analysis from the Southern Environmental Law Center and several conservation groups, environmental groups say that the Biden Administration’s proposed amendment fails to adequately protect old growth.
Advocates are encouraging the public to submit comments to the Forest Service on the old-growth amendment process by the deadline of 11:59 pm ET, Friday, September 20th.
Advocates say that far from meeting its intent of protecting and restoring old-growth forests, the NOGA’s current language could allow for continued inappropriate old-growth logging. Analysis shows that the proposal fails to allow a hands-off approach to conservation, which could better serve old-growth forests. Instead, the agency is solely focused on active management, which can often harm old-growth forests. Without clear directions not to degrade old-growth, the Forest Service could continue with business as usual, logging old-growth trees.
The environmental groups are also pushing for clear guidance from the USFS on a process to “recruit” future old-growth forests, especially in the Southeast, where they are increasingly scarce. They also want increased clarity around exceptions for logging old-growth and strong monitoring and accountability measures to ensure the implementation of the new amendment.
“We hope to establish a clear way to protect, but also increase the amount of old-growth forest across the country," said David Reid, National Forest Issues Chair, NC Sierra Club. "This goal was acknowledged in Biden’s executive order of increasing that. However, the agency’s current proposal falls short of that vision. Shifting our approach to national forests – from resources meant for extraction to natural wonders worth preserving – is long overdue. ...
"We are leery that rationales could be put forward to enter old growth areas and log them under the guise of these different Plan objectives. With the current inflated timber targets in the plan, planners would be under pressure to include areas that are currently in the "suitable timber base,” as some of these old growth areas are."