Missing Link in Biden's Climate Agenda: Letting Older Trees Grow

A coalition of more than 70 groups launched a new campaign today called the Climate Forests Campaign and called on the Biden administration to take executive action to protect mature trees and forests on federal lands, which are critical in the fight against climate change.

"It's completely unacceptable that federal land managers lack strong policies to protect old trees and forests, given all we know about how critical they are to our climate and biodiversity," said Randi Spivak, public lands program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "We're calling on President Biden to safeguard these beautiful, life-giving ecosystems to have a shot at a livable planet. It's cheaper, smarter and quicker than logging them. We just need to let them grow."

Today's campaign launch comes a year after Biden signed an executive order setting a path to achieve net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050 and work with partners internationally to put the world on a sustainable climate pathway.

This month marks the 117th anniversary of the U.S. Forest Service. For more than a century, the agency has focused much of its resources on logging and timber sales. The Climate Forests Campaign is calling on the Biden administration to kick off a new era of climate and forest policy that values trees and forests as key pieces of the climate solution.

Forests, particularly older forests, store vast amounts of carbon and continue absorbing carbon as they age. Logging trees in these areas releases most of that carbon back into the atmosphere. Even under the best-case scenario, newly planted forests would not reabsorb this carbon for decades or centuries -- timescales irrelevant to avoiding the worst consequences of climate change.

Older trees and forests also are more fire resistant and help curb the effects of climate change by slowing soil erosion and moderating temperatures.

Carbon-absorbing older forests are also the best habitat for thousands of wildlife species, including spotted owls, red-cockaded woodpeckers and pine martens.

The last comprehensive federal policy to protect national forests, the Roadless Rule, was enacted in 2001 under President Bill Clinton. The rule was adopted to protect nearly 60 million acres of designated roadless areas from logging and roadbuilding, safeguarding significant stands of remaining old growth. Though these areas act as a critical carbon sink, most older trees on federal land lie outside of roadless areas.

"Older forests on federal lands work as a natural climate solution, drawing down massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," said Spivak. "The science is clear that we should be protecting existing old-growth trees and allowing mature trees and forests to grow. This would show the world that Biden takes his pledge to end global forest losses seriously."

Members of the coalition include the Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, Environment America, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oregon Wild, Standing Trees, Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center and Wild Heritage.

Willamette National Forest, Oregon. Photo credit: Willamette Riverkeeper Image is available for media use.