Comments Due Friday, September 20, 2024
Mature and old-growth trees and forests protect our climate by absorbing and storing carbon, boost resilience to fire, help regulate temperatures, filter drinking water and shelter wildlife. Because of their climate benefits, mature and old-growth forests are also known as climate forests. Logging the trees in these climate forests deprives us of the benefits and beauty of our largest, oldest trees. We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect climate forests.
The U.S. Forest Service has proposed a policy that could reduce the logging and destruction of old-growth trees in national forests. The Forest Service National Old Growth Amendment will be added to the Management Plan for every National Forest in the United States. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for this amendment was released on June 21, 2024, and launched a public comment opportunity that will run through September 20, 2024.
This nationwide policy needs to be dramatically strengthened before it is finalized. The Forest Service also needs to issue strong protections for mature trees, which are our future old-growth forests and exist in much greater numbers than old-growth.
National Old-Growth Amendment Comment Workshop
On September 17, Rocky Mountain Wild, Environment Colorado, Wild Connections, and Rocky Smith discussed how these forests are critical to protecting our climate, the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed National Old-Growth Amendment, and how to add your voice to request strong protections for this critical natural resource.
Act Now to Protect Climate Forests
Choose the Coalition Comment Portal below to easily add your voice to comments that will be sent to the Forest Service. Or learn more and use the Forest Service Comment form to submit personalized comments.
Talking Points
- Identifying existing and future old growth stands must be a standard.
- Existing and developing old growth stands should not be manipulated unless there is a strong reason to do so
- All old growth and most developing old growth stands must be unsuitable for timber production
- No treatments should be done in existing and future old growth areas with historically infrequent fire except:
- to protect public safety, such as removing hazard trees in areas of high public use
- to remove non-native plants, animals, or fish
- to close and obliterate roads and trails
- Fuel reduction should only be done in old growth areas with historically frequent fire and where conditions deviate significantly from historical conditions. These treatments should be used to help restore natural conditions.
- Any treatment in old growth must maintain old growth character to the maximum extent possible.
Use these resources to learn more:
- Climate Forest Campaign Fact Sheet with Talking Points
- Rocky Mountain Wild’s Guide to Writing Comments that Stick
- Forest Service Fact Sheet
- Virtual National Old Growth Amendment Field Meeting (Forest Service video and transcript)
- Forest Service Project Page (to access the DEIS, scroll down to the library and select the 02 Draft EIS folder)
- More Forest Service Resources
- Slides from September 18 National Old-Growth Amendment Comment Workshop sponsored by Rocky Mountain Wild, Environment Colorado, and Wild Connections.