The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a proposal to amend all 128 forest land management plans to conserve and steward old-growth forest conditions on national forests and grasslands nationwide.
Healthy, climate-resilient old-growth forests store large amounts of carbon, increase biodiversity, reduce wildfire risks, enable subsistence and cultural uses, provide outdoor recreational opportunities and promote sustainable local economic development. Land management plans provide direction for how national forests and grasslands are managed for their many uses, including conservation. The proposed amendment will use the best available science, including Indigenous Knowledge, to provide consistent direction related to old-growth forest conditions across national forests and grasslands.
In June 2022, Secretary Vilsack followed through on President Biden’s Executive Order to conserve and restore old and mature forests and directed the USDA Forest Service to take action to address the impacts of climate change, restore forests and support forest resilience.
These actions include defining and conducting the first-ever nationwide inventory of old-growth and mature forests across national forests and grasslands. Launched on Earth Day 2023, this initial inventory report shows that the Forest Service manages nearly 25 million acres of old growth and more than 68 million acres of mature forests on national forests and grasslands. The proposal USDA is putting forward today relates only to lands managed by USDA Forest Service.
USDA has also released the Climate Risk Viewer, a tool to assess climate risks and vulnerabilities on national forests and grasslands. Additional actions to implement the direction from the Executive Order and the Secretary’s memo are forthcoming, including the finalization of a threat analysis on mature and old-growth forests and a proposed new national policy for monitoring the health of national forests and grasslands. The Forest Service will continue to advance strategies and engage critical partners to build resilience and ensure future actions are responsive to the significant climate stressors that forests face.
The consistent management direction contained in the proposed nationwide forest plan amendment would direct place-based strategies for old-growth forest conservation and management, developed in partnership with Tribal communities and in collaboration with local stakeholders. These strategies will be adaptive and factor in the unique opportunities and challenges of a particular area, which will allow for more flexibility in responding to rapid changes in wildfire behavior, drought, insects and disease. The amendment would prohibit vegetation management within old-growth forest conditions when the primary purpose is to grow, tend, harvest, or regenerate trees for economic reasons.
Today’s announcement builds on this foundational work and other significant actions to conserve old-growth and mature forests, such as USDA’s restoration of roadless protections across nearly 9.4 million acres of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska.
