Biden to issue Earth Day order to safeguard old-growth forests
Friday, April 22, 2022
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President Biden is expected to sign an executive order today that will lay the groundwork for protecting some of America’s biggest and oldest trees.
Biden's order will direct the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to inventory mature forests nationwide, and require the agencies to identify threats to old-growth trees (generally, those over 80 years old) and use that information to write new policies that protect them.
The administration’s action reflects a broader strategy to combat climate change through the America the Beautiful plan to conserve more land, including the trees that store the most carbon. A 2020 study of six national forests in the Pacific Northwest found that just 3 percent of the largest trees contained roughly 42 percent of the carbon.
The president’s order will not ban logging of mature and old-growth trees, a move that is likely to disappoint more than 70 environmental groups that recently called on Biden to enact new protections for mature and old-growth trees which currently aren’t prohibited from being turned into lumber.
Nebraska voters reject Ricketts' 30x30 disinformation
A group of Nebraska conservation organizations, including the Nebraska Farmers Union, Nebraska Wildlife Federation, Nebraska Land Trust, and The Nature Conservancy released new polling of 501 registered Nebraska voters that indicated overwhelming support for conservation easements and voluntary conservation programs, such as the conservation reserve program, which pays farmers to set aside land for wildlife conservation. 95 percent of respondents said they supported voluntary conservation programs, which Lori Weigel of New Bridge Strategy, the agency that conducted the poll, called “about as good as it ever gets in support for anything.”
On a press call with reporters, John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union criticized Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, the American Stewards of Liberty, and other opponents of Biden's America the Beautiful plan for using “conspiracy theories, misinformation and mischaracterizations” to spread fear and distrust about voluntary federal conservation programs. The Center for Western Priorities' most recent report, The 30x30 Disinformation Brigade details the tangled web of lies peddled by anti-conservation extremists to undermine American conservation efforts.
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Biden to issue Earth Day order to safeguard old-growth forests
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Greenwashing obscures the urgency to protect the Earth every day
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 This Earth Day is a good moment to reflect on how investments in nature — especially those that have become federal law — have benefited Americans for more than a century. It’s time for Congress to double down on those investments to give our remarkable landscapes and waters, and all of those who depend on them for their livelihoods and well-being, the best chance of thriving into the future."
— Marcia Argust, The Pew Charitable Trust, The Hill |
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