The Biden administration has announced a proposal to conserve and restore old-growth trees in United States national forests.

If adopted, the proposal would expand logging restrictions as part of an executive order issued on Earth Day 2022 to safeguard national forests. The protections would be a natural remedy for tackling the effects of climate change, press releases from The White House and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said.

“Old and mature forests are vital to providing clean water, absorbing carbon pollution, and supplying habitat for wildlife. Today’s actions include a first-of-its kind proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to amend all 128 forest land management plans across the country to conserve and restore old-growth forests across the National Forest System,” The White House said.

The amount of carbon dioxide U.S. forests absorb is equal to more than 10 percent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

The new proposal, which adds to the over 26 million acres of waters and lands that have already been protected by the administration, will direct the U.S. Forest Service in its restoration and conservation efforts.

“Protecting our old-growth trees from logging is an important first step to ensure these giants continue to store vast amounts of carbon, but other older forests also need protection,” said Randi Spivak, CBD’s public lands policy director, in the CBD press release. “To fulfill President Biden’s executive order and address the magnitude of the climate crisis, the Forest Service also needs to protect our mature forests, which if allowed to grow will become the old growth of tomorrow.”

Most old-growth forests in the U.S. have already been destroyed by logging, and most remaining ancient trees are on public lands managed by the federal government. The Climate Forests Campaign has identified at least 370,000 acres of old-growth and mature forests on federal lands that have been earmarked for timber sales.

Old-growth forests sequester enormous amounts of carbon and are especially resilient to wildfires.

“Americans love our forests. They’re natural playgrounds for people and wildlife alike. That’s why more than half a million people this summer asked the Forest Service to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests,” said Ellen Montgomery, Environment America’s public lands campaign director, in the press release from CBD.

The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management manage approximately 80 million mature forest acres and 32 million old-growth acres located on federal lands. Mature forests represent 45 percent of all forests managed by these two federal agencies, with old-growth forests making up 18 percent of the total.

“Mature and old-growth forests are an essential component of a broader climate-crisis solution — but only if we protect them from logging,” said Adam Rissien, WildEarth Guardians rewilding manager, in the CBD press release. “Today’s announcement by the Forest Service establishes necessary and long-overdue protections for old growth forests, limiting when they can be cut and sold commercially. Taking the next step and developing a national rule covering both mature and old-growth would deliver on the Biden administration’s commitment to protect these trees once and for all.”

In addition to the updated amendment to the national forest plan, the Northwest Forest Plan to improve climate resilience for old-growth and mature forest ecosystems will be updated by the Forest Service for the first time since 2007, The White House press release said. Started in 1994, the Northwest Forest Plan provides management guidance for federally owned forests in Oregon, Washington and California. These ancient forests contain approximately a quarter of the national forest system’s remaining old-growth trees in the contiguous 48 states.

“The administration has rightly recognized that protecting America’s mature and old-growth trees and forests must be a core part of America’s conservation vision and playbook to combat the climate crisis,” said NRDC senior attorney Garett Rose in the press release from CBD. “This announcement is an important step toward meeting these goals. The Forest Service should move forward to develop the strongest possible safeguards for these forests.”

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