The U.S. Forest Service's proposed management strategies for older forests fail to uphold the intent of President Biden's historic Executive Order, and leaves mature and old-growth forests vulnerable to future logging in the White and Green Mountain National Forests
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Zack Porter, Standing Trees, (802) 552-0160, zporter@standingtrees.org
MONTPELIER, Vermont (June 21, 2024) — On Thursday the Forest Service released a long-anticipated draft analysis for a new policy to manage older forests on federal lands, in response to President Biden's historic Executive Order on conserving mature and old-growth forests.
Standing Trees' Executive Director, Zack Porter, released the following statement:
"By the Forest Service's own numbers, less than one percent of Northern Hardwood forests are in an old-growth condition in the Eastern Region. And yet the Forest Service's preferred alternative is an endorsement of the status quo. Instead of protecting current and future old-growth forests, it puts decision-making authority right back in the hands of the very agency personnel who are actively liquidating mature and old-growth forests in the Sandwich and Telephone Gap logging projects. If the Biden Administration wants this process to be something more than a greenwashing exercise, then it must put stronger pressure on the Forest Service."
About Standing Trees: Standing Trees is a grassroots membership organization that works to protect and restore New England’s forests for the benefit of the climate, clean water, and biodiversity. To overcome the climate and extinction crises, Standing Trees envisions a future where New England’s federal and state public lands are managed to restore the natural, old growth forests that evolved over millennia alongside the region’s indigenous people. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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