[MCN] Trees in Kootenai National Forest included on list of 10 threatened forests that help fight climate change

[Matthew Koehler]

For Release, Tuesday July 12, 2022



*Report: Federal logging projects put 10 climate-saving forests on chopping
block**Trees in Kootenai National Forest included on list of 10 threatened
forests that help fight climate change*

MISSOULA, MONTANA—Federal agencies are targeting mature and old-growth
forests for logging despite these trees’ extraordinary ability to curb
climate change and President Biden’s directive to preserve them, according
to a new report spotlighting the 10 worst logging projects in federal
forests across the country.

In the report released today, *Worth More Standing*
<https://www.climate-forests.org/worth-more-standing>, the Climate Forests
<https://www.climate-forests.org/> coalition details federal logging
proposals targeting nearly a quarter of a million acres of old-growth and
mature forests overseen by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land
Management. The report outlines “a pervasive pattern of federal forest
mismanagement that routinely sidesteps science to turn carbon-storing
giants into lumber” and calls on the Biden administration to pass a
permanent rule to protect these big old trees.

“The best way to protect these carbon-storing giants is to let them grow,
but our federal agencies keep turning them into lumber,” said Randi Spivak,
public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Biden
administration can help curb climate change by permanently protecting
mature and old growth trees. It takes centuries to make up for the carbon
lost when these trees are chopped down and we don’t have that kind of time.”

The threatened forests are in Montana, North Carolina, Vermont, Wisconsin,
South Dakota, Wyoming, Arizona, California, and Oregon.

In northwest Montana, the U.S. Forest Service’s Black Ram project will
allow nearly 4,000 acres of the Kootenai National Forest to be commercially
logged, including clearcutting more than 1,700 acres and logging hundreds
of acres of centuries-old trees. These rare, old forests are champions of
carbon storage, which reduces harms from climate change. Conservation
groups sued to challenge
<https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/lawsuit-seeks-to-protect-crucial-grizzly-habitat-in-montanas-oldest-forests/>
the
logging and road building project on June 30, 2022.

“The U.S. Forest Service is racing to eradicate ancient primary forests on
our public lands in direct opposition to President Biden’s proclamation to
protect old and mature forests as an effective means of battling climate
change” said Rick Bass, chair of the Yaak Valley Forest Council. “Primary
old forests in the proposed Black Ram project on the Kootenai National
Forest can store up to 1,900 metric tons of biomass per hectare. The Forest
Service is committing climate treason in broad daylight, racing to cut the
last old forests in the backcountry—logging in the wet swamps, the one
place fire doesn’t go. It’s climate madness disguised as greed.”

“This report demonstrates that logging remains a critical threat to mature
and old-growth forests,” said Adam Rissien, ReWilding Manager with
WildEarth Guardians. “The urgent need for meaningful protections could not
be more evident and until then we will continue to challenge the Forest
Service when the agency seeks to decimate habitat important for imperiled
species such as grizzly bears and Canada lynx.”

Mature and old-growth forests hold enormous amounts of carbon. Preserving
old-growth and mature forests is a meaningful, cost-effective measure the
Biden administration can take immediately to mitigate climate change. Biden
issued an Earth Day executive order
<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fbriefing-room%2Fpresidential-actions%2F2022%2F04%2F22%2Fexecutive-order-on-strengthening-the-nations-forests-communities-and-local-economies%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cmkreinhart%40biologicaldiversity.org%7C73d9b60a123b4f60d5d208da636ba799%7C95c0c3b8013c435ebeea2c762e78fae0%7C1%7C0%7C637931611294548994%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ckdkqI5ZZkDYMEYxM0gY2Q%2BxvU%2FSJ2h0HC3ErXd3g7o%3D&reserved=0>
directing
an inventory of old forests and policies to protect them.

“Without a federal rule in place to restrict logging of these critical
forest tracts, these mature and old-growth trees could be lost, along with
the opportunity to make significant progress toward addressing climate
change,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, Senior Legislative Representative at
Earthjustice.

Also today, more than 125 groups sent a letter
<https://pdf.wildearthguardians.org/support_docs/July-2022-Mature-and-Old-Growth-Letter.pdf>
to
the U.S. Agriculture and Interior departments requesting an immediate start
to a rulemaking process to ensure permanent protections for mature and
old-growth trees and forests across federal lands, while allowing for
necessary measures to reduce wildfire risk. Large, older trees are more
resistant to wildfires and studies show logging them doesn’t reduce the
risk of climate change-driven fires.

“This report highlights what we have—but also what we stand to lose,” said
Alex Craven, senior campaign representative at the Sierra Club. “Our old
and mature growths are a natural climate solution, and we must protect
these trees if we wish to tackle the intersecting climate and biodiversity
crises.”

Scientists have pointed to forest preservation as one of the most effective
ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere. U.S. federal forests sequester
35 million metric tons of carbon annually, a number that could rise
steadily with new conservation measures.

Protecting older forests also safeguards clean water, clean air, wildlife
habitat, biodiversity and recreational opportunities.

The full report is available here:
https://www.climate-forests.org/worth-more-standing
<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.climate-forests.org%2Fworth-more-standing&data=05%7C01%7Crbowe%40earthjustice.org%7C395e392919b94ab663ce08da636d6311%7Cadedb458e8e34c4e9bedfa792af66cb6%7C0%7C0%7C637931618715209775%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=PwmIhelYNPlUPIN9ZikxbOP1doXrXuj1EzYo%2BFDRxyM%3D&reserved=0>
*.*

*CONTACTS*Rick Bass, Yaak Valley Forest Council, rickbass27 at gmail.com,
406-295-9736
Adam Rissien, WildEarth Guardians, arissien at wildearthguardians.org
 406-370-3147
Randi Spivak, Center for Biological Diversity,
rspivak at biologicaldiversity.org, 310-779-4894
Becca Bowe, Earthjustice, rbowe at earthjustice.org
Jackson Chiappinelli, Earthjustice, jchiappinelli at earthjustice.org
Ellen Montgomery, Environment America, emontgomery at environmentamerica.org
Medhini Kumar, Sierra Club, medhini.kumar at sierraclub.org

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