Will A Nationwide Forest Inventory Effort Help Save Colorado’s Oldest Trees?

This article in 5280 magazine asks the question “Will A Nationwide Forest Inventory Effort Help Save Colorado’s Oldest Trees?”

The answer is … not quite but if the Biden administration acts to create durable protections, the inventory wil be a good first step.

I was quoted in the article: “If we cut down all the trees before they’re 80 or 100, we’re never going to re-grow any more old growth,” says Ellen Montgomery, public lands campaign director with Environment America, a network of 30 state environmental groups that’s advocating for the new definition of mature to draw the line at 80 years old. Montgomery, who lives in Colorado, adds, “The situation we’re in now is, even with a lot of it being protected, we’re losing old growth. It’s kind of being chipped away at. So, the idea here is to protect the old-growth-in-waiting stands and forests.”