The Sierra Club and allies have taken the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to court to protect Oregon’s most effective Climate Protectors, our forests of large and mature trees. At the eleventh hour, the Trump Administration repealed the Eastside Screens 21-inch rule, which for decades provided basic protections for these carbon-dense old trees in Oregon’s Eastside forests—nature’s made-to-order climate solution.
Between December 2020 and January 2021, the Trump administration pushed through a load of bad environmental policies. This was a last-ditch effort to leave as much of a pro-big business, anti-environment legacy as that administration could. One of these policies was to change the long-standing Eastside Screens wildlife rule that prevented harvesting any tree of a size with a 21-inch or greater diameter at breast height.
The Eastside Screens codified the wildlife standard to protect and create the unique wildlife habitat and ecosystem created by large trees. This affected all national forests (your public land) east of the Cascade Mountain Range in USFS Region 6, the Pacific Northwest Region, which is Oregon and Washington. This agreement was reached in 1994 and revised in 1995 as part of an overall agreement between Region 6 and several environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club. These were intended to be temporary protections, but Oregon’s national forests have never completed the work required to create a replacement management plan.
As of January 2021, the new policy, which we have nicknamed the “Trump Screens,” changes the 21-inch rule to a guideline, which leaves it up to each national forest to decide about harvesting large trees. Not all tree species have been removed from protection; the beloved Ponderosa Pine has been excluded. And trees over 30-inch diameter at breast height are also protected. Even with these remaining protections, there are many large and mature trees that are threatened by logging under this new policy.
Why are the “Trump Screens” a bad idea? Why should the 21-inch rule be reinstated?
These Eastside forests cleanse the air we breathe, purify drinking water, support critical habitat for fish and wildlife, bring down air temperature, survive fire better, and benefit communities. Cutting them down is a life-on-earth endangering travesty.
Our forests are now severely lacking in large trees, even when compared to the Historic Range of Variability (HRV) that the Forest Service uses for management and logging decisions. Yet, these large trees are a critical part of thriving ecosystems, are nature’s ready-made climate solution, and can help reduce devastating wildfires.
We know that mature forests are not simply a collection of trees, but are a complex convergence of many plant and animal species in a highly dynamic living system. Large trees provide unique wildlife habitat, and can affect wind, moisture, and sunlight to create their own microclimates. Large trees provide important sources of food, shelter and structure for many species of fungi, insects, birds and other wildlife in ways that smaller trees cannot.
Large trees store large amounts of carbon, helping to reduce the destabilizing effects of climate change. Even in death as standing snags or downed logs, trees sequester carbon. Below the surface, the extensive root systems of large trees store yet more carbon.
Large, mature trees are also more resistant to wildfire than small trees. They act as mother trees, helping young trees get started. Large trees protect, share nutrients, and pass on their genetic heritages that enabled them to survive droughts and fires.
There are numerous scientific reasons to not cut large trees, but perhaps it only takes observing their beauty to find reason enough. They are our pride and joy in Oregon, even featured on our license plates. All who live in the Pacific Northwest have the privilege of experiencing these large trees on our public lands.
What can you do today to save our forests?
There is no time to be lost in saving these big trees. If you have not yet responded to our recent Action Alert, take action with us today! Contact the White House and Senators Wyden and Merkley, and ask that the Trump Screens be reversed and that the Eastside Screen 21-inch rule be reinstated.
President Biden and Senators Wyden & Merkley
Already sent messages to our Senators and President Biden? There’s still a lot you can do! Share why our forests are important to you and tell others what is happening. Write to the U.S. Forest Service and let them know how much you take pleasure in the forest and the large, beautiful trees. Make a donation to the Sierra Club or other environmental organizations and tell them you appreciate the work they are doing to protect large trees.
Last, but not least, get out and respectfully enjoy our incredible forests!