The proposal, presented in a on Friday, outlines ways national forests should prioritize preserving old-growth trees, but it falls short of an outright ban on logging.
鈥淭his draft is a step, but the final policy must be significantly improved, including ending the practice of sending old-growth trees to timber mills,鈥� several environmental groups, including the nonprofit Oregon Wild, said in a jointly issued .
Oregon Wild forest program manager Lauren Anderson called the proposal a good first step, but said it leaves too much up to individual forest managers, with loopholes allowing them to continue logging the country鈥檚 remaining ancient trees.
鈥淭here are very, very few reasons these days to cut down an old-growth tree,鈥� Anderson told OPB. 鈥淟ike if there鈥檚 an old-growth tree that鈥檚 threatening a popular recreation area or trail, that鈥檚 a reason to do it. But beyond that, there are very limited cases where it makes sense.鈥�
Officials told the Associated Press that a sweeping ban on logging old-growth would make it harder to thin forests to protect communities against wildfires that have grown more severe as the planet warms.
鈥淭o ensure the longevity of old-growth forests, we鈥檙e going to have to take proactive management to protect against wildfire and insects and disease,鈥� Forest Service Deputy Chief Chris French said.
Thinning forests 鈥� often called 鈥減roactive management鈥� 鈥� can mean different things to different people, argued Eugene-based attorney Susan Jane Brown, who is helping develop a similar proposal for Northwest forests. For some forests, logging small-diameter trees ahead of prescribed burns is necessary, a consensus reached by many tribes and scientists.
鈥淏ut you can take it too far,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where some of the concern arises, is how much is enough and how much is too much. And in many places, that is in the eye of the beholder.鈥�
The proposal doesn鈥檛 address whether some forests should be left alone without any thinning. Brown considers that a shortfall, particularly for moist forests west of the Cascades.
鈥淟etting those forests continue to age and get older and more decadent,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what the wildlife need them to do.鈥�
The proposal stems from President Joe Biden鈥檚 calling for federal restrictions on logging old-growth and mature trees. The U.S. Forest Service responded in 2023, when it announced it would amend the plans used to manage all 128 of its forests in one fell swoop, something the agency has never done before.
The proposal issued Friday is the next step towards making that change.
Anderson said it doesn鈥檛 live up to Biden鈥檚 executive order, particularly since it doesn鈥檛 address how to protect mature trees 鈥� that is, large trees that aren鈥檛 quite old enough to be considered old growth.
Local forest plan changes still underway
The proposal is also linked to ongoing work to update the , which is undergoing its own transformation. That鈥檚 the plan that came out of the Pacific Northwest of the 1980s and 鈥�90s. It set aside 7.4 million acres in Oregon, Washington and California as protected reserves and banned clearcutting tree stands that were more than 80 years old within those reserves.
Brown is a member of an advisory committee developing recommendations for what that Northwest Forest Plan update could look like. She said changes to national U.S. Forest Service policies won鈥檛 heavily impact their work.
鈥淭he national amendment specifically recognizes and calls out the Northwest Forest Plan amendment as an ongoing process that should be consistent,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just going to be more specific.鈥�
Brown said many of the original Northwest Forest Plan protections for endangered species like the northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet will remain in place. However, changes in the works will likely include new parameters for logging in some areas. She expects a draft proposal to publish in August.
Meanwhile, forests east of the Cascades could be in for even bigger changes with the . That revision work is still in its early stages.
Friday鈥檚 proposal does not include BLM lands
Old-growth forest protections proposed Friday will apply to trees on public lands managed by the Forest Service, but not to the Bureau of Land Management. BLM has come for logging old-growth trees in Oregon.
BLM responded to Biden鈥檚 order through its approved in April, which nods to the benefits of old-growth trees.
Similar to the Forest Service鈥檚 proposed amendment, BLM鈥檚 rule was met with mixed emotions, with some conservationists saying it lacks teeth and some timber industry representatives saying it鈥檚 too restrictive.
鈥淚t was a good first step,鈥� Anderson, of Oregon Wild, said. 鈥淏ut in terms of actually delivering on the directive of the executive order, it did not do that.鈥�
Anderson said she hopes the bureau comes out with additional protections for old-growth trees, though it鈥檚 unclear if it will.
Protesters have organized and tree-sit protests recently to prevent BLM from logging old-growth trees. Brown, Anderson and other conservation groups say the BLM is logging too heavily under the guise of protecting forests from wildfires and diseases.
鈥淭hey have been logging old-growth trees for a long time,鈥� Anderson said. 鈥淭hey have some of the last remaining old-growth on those western BLM lands. So we鈥檙e very concerned about the impacts we鈥檙e seeing there.鈥�
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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