Good News for Old Growth Forests, Maybe.
Last month we heard from Sarah Adloo, a conservation scientist and the Executive Director at the Old-Growth Forest Network. The network works to ensure the preservation of old-growth forests, one of our greatest assets toward mitigating climate change.
Shortly afterwards, President Biden announced on Earth Day that his administration is taking an important first step to safeguard mature and old-growth forests. Mature and old-growth trees capture vast amounts of carbon pollution, storing it for decades while living and even after their natural deaths if they're left in the forest. Logging immediately releases that carbon back into the atmosphere, with only a fraction of live-tree carbon stored in wood products long-term. The released carbon is irrecoverable on any time scale relevant to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.
Old forests are also critical for biodiversity, home to endangered wildlife like marbled murrelets and spotted owls.
Seemingly at odds with the Executive Order, Congress just massively increased funds for logging across 30 million acres of USFS forests — including commercial logging that targets large, old trees.
Like most Executive Orders, the key is in its implementation by the agencies that have jurisdiction, in this case the USFS and the Department of Interior.
Tell the Agriculture and Interior departments to move quickly to protect our irreplaceable old growth forests:
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