Overview

• Biden administration proposes changes to protect old-growth forests across the U.S., preventing commercial logging on all 193 million acres of forests and grasslands.
• The proposal is a first-of-its-kind from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to amend all 128 forest land management plans.
• The Forest Service will also initiate the process of updating the Northwest Forest Plan for climate resilience, including for mature and old forest ecosystems.
• The old-growth forest protections would protect some of the nation's oldest trees, many more than 100 years old and rich in carbon.
• The proposal would benefit about 25 million acres of old growth overseen by the Forest Service, of which 45% is not protected from logging, and allows continued cutting under specific conditions.