Environment America and coalition deliver public comments to protect mature and old-growth forests

Mature and old-growth forests are some of our most important assets in fighting climate change — and Environment America is working to protect them.

On Aug. 30, Environment America joined a coalition of environmental groups to deliver more than 122,000 public comments urging the Biden administration to protect older forests from logging. The comments, lodged with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior, urge the government to define trees more than 80 years old as mature, protecting them from most logging activity. In addition to providing irreplaceable habitats that support biodiversity, these forests represent major carbon sinks that capture carbon from the atmosphere.

“The solution is simple and needs to be implemented as quickly as possible,” said Ellen Montgomery, Environment America’s Public Lands Campaign director. “We must protect our mature trees from logging and let them grow in our federal forestland.”

As the harm from climate change intensifies, Environment America will continue to advocate for our most valuable and threatened ecosystems.

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