Biden administration takes step toward protecting old-growth trees

The Biden administration on Tuesday took a step toward protecting older trees that store carbon dioxide and help to lessen climate change. 

It issued a proposed plan with apparent limitations on cutting down old-growth trees — saying lands can’t be managed with the primary intention of logging such trees for economic reasons. 

It does say that “ecologically appropriate” timber harvesting will be allowed as long as it meets certain standards.

The Agriculture Department also said it was proposing incorporating a “national intent” to maintain and improve old-growth forests into all of the land management plans within the National Forest System.

David Dreher, senior manager for public lands at the National Wildlife Federation, said the establishment of the “national intent” to protect these forests is important because it will inform decisions made by Forest Service officials.

“It does guide land managers in an important way when they look at how they want to manage acres on the ground,” Dreher told The Hill.

“An affirmative statement that says we need old forests and what I do in these old forests or in mature forests that I want to recruit into old forests contributes to the long-term persistence of those forests,” he said. “We've never had that before.”

Studies have shown that old-growth trees store significant amounts of carbon dioxide — making their protection important for fighting climate change.