Please join us in urging President Biden and his administration to create a strong, lasting national rule that protects mature and old-growth forests on federal public lands from logging.
On Earth Day in April 2022, President Biden signed Executive Order 14072 pledging to “conserve America's mature and old-growth forests on Federal lands…to promote their continued health and resilience; retain and enhance carbon storage; conserve biodiversity; mitigate the risk of wildfires; enhance climate resilience; enable subsistence and cultural uses; provide outdoor recreational opportunities; and promote sustainable local economic development.”
Now President Biden needs to follow through on his promise. Here in Northern California, such a rule would apply to the mature and old-growth forests on more than 5 million acres of public lands across four national forests (Klamath, Shasta-Trinity, Six Rivers, and Mendocino), as well as about 1.6 million acres of public forest lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Across the country, Forest Service and BLM lands combined contain more than 32 million acres of old-growth and more than 79 million acres of mature forests.
Read the Forest Service and BLM's first-ever inventory of mature and old-growth forests on federal public lands from April 2023. The report finds that 18% of all forested land managed by the two agencies is old-growth forest, and another 45% is mature forest that could become old-growth, if left undisturbed by logging.
The current vulnerability of 111 million acres of America’s oldest forests to logging is daunting to say the least, but the potential for real protection, progress, and climate action on a national scale is also an inspiring opportunity.
Please take action today on behalf of mature and old-growth forests on U.S. federal public lands. We have until June 20th to speak for these trees.