Old-growth forests provide all of us with so many benefits: habitat for wildlife, clean drinking water, vast opportunities for recreation and relaxation. They also play an important role in storing carbon, which helps fight climate change.
But it’s no secret that our forests are in trouble because of threats associated with climate change, including drought, pests, disease and risk of wildfire. In the last 20 years, we’ve lost more than a million acres of older forests. These threats are especially prevalent in our area around Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada. According to Tahoe National Forest Supervisor Eli Ilano, there were 5 million dead trees in that forest in 2022.
That’s why I’m thrilled that in late December, the U.S. Forest Service announced an historic plan to protect older forests and encourage adaptive management to ensure old-growth forests survive and thrive for generations to come. Using the best available science and Indigenous knowledge, the new policy will provide forest managers across the country with the guidance and flexibility on how to best use tools to manage and monitor old and mature forests.