Nearly 50 Congressional Representatives have signed on to a letter calling for stronger protections for our old growth forests.
Commercial logging and the roads that accompany it threaten mature and old-growth trees and forests on public land. From Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest to the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia to the Kootenai National Forest in Montana, more than 50 million acres of mature and old-growth forests are on federal lands in the United States and are unprotected.
This could change this year if the Forest Service finalizes strong protections for old-growth forests in the form of a Nationwide Old-Growth Amendment, setting a precedent for old growth conservation for the rest of the world and ensuring that future generations are able to enjoy old growth forests.
Nearly 50 members of the House of Representatives, led by Representatives Matsui, Huffman and Sarbans have signed a letter to Secretary Vilsack supporting the Nationwide Old Growth Amendment, advocating for a future with more old growth forests. The letter also encourages the Forest Service to strengthen language relating to protecting the ecological health of old growth forests, respect and communicate with tribal nations, and to “swiftly finalize and implement the proposed amendment and to ensure the amendment is durable under future administrations”.
The Canadian boreal forest is the largest remaining primary forest on the planet. It stores 300 billion tons of carbon, provides habitat for threatened boreal caribou, billions of birds and a multitude of other species.
