Forests are natural climate solutions — especially our country's mature and old-growth forests and trees. Safeguarding and expanding carbon-rich forests on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands is one of the most important, cost-effective, and timely ways to fight the climate crisis.
But mature forests on federal lands are threatened by on-going logging. When these mature trees are cut down and processed, much of their stored carbon is rapidly released — and recapturing it through forest regrowth takes decades or even centuries. But climate change is upon us now — we don't have time to regrow forests.
Last year, President Biden thankfully issued an executive order recognizing the importance of mature and old-growth forests in the fight against climate change. It was a welcome move, and urgent follow-up action is needed to ensure these climate-critical forests are meaningfully protected from logging.
Tell the Biden administration to realize the promise of their executive order by creating durable regulatory protections for mature forests on federal lands.
