On Earth Day 2022 President Biden issued an Executive Order calling on the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conserve mature and old-growth forests as a natural climate solution. This is a huge step towards meaningful protections for the remaining older forests, but now it’s up to us to ensure that this step leads to lasting change. 

In response to the President’s Executive Order, both the U.S. Forest Service and BLM have opened public comment periods through June 20th, 2023. Please take a minute to add your name to the list of advocates demanding permanent protections of mature and old-growth forests on federal public land!

Sources:

Forests to Faucets 2.0: Connecting Forests, Water, and Communities. USDA, 2022.

Trees to Tap: How Forest Practices Affect Oregon’s Municipal Water. OSU Extension, 2021.

 Status of Mature and Old-Growth Forests in the Pacific Northwest. Strittholt, et al., 2006. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3591344

Carbon sequestration and biodiversity co-benefits of preserving forests in the western United States. Buotte et al. 2019. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eap.2039

More Resources on Old-Growth:

Featured
What’s Up with the Medford BLM & Old-Growth Logging?
What’s Up with the Medford BLM & Old-Growth Logging?

The Medford District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) continues to propose timber sales and contend they are retaining (rather than logging) old-growth, and conservation organizations and the BLM’s neighbors will argue that the BLM is in fact logging old-growth. So, who is right and what’s behind the conflicting claims?

Barred owls may doom old-growth ecosystems
Barred owls may doom old-growth ecosystems

Serious barred owl encroachment on northern spotted owl habitat has led the US Fish and Wildlife Service to propose a management plan to right the dynamic. Read more about the need for the plan and what the implications could be if the situation is not addressed.

A Long Time Coming: Forest Service Begins Update of the Northwest Forest Plan
A Long Time Coming: Forest Service Begins Update of the Northwest Forest Plan

The Northwest Forest Plan is the largest, truly science-based forest and ecosystem management plan in the country, affecting 19 million acres of public lands across western Washington, Oregon, and northern California, and it’s getting an update. Learn more here.