Area Larger Than California: Federal Government Identifies Old-Growth, Mature Forests

Gabe McKenna, a state parks safety officer and ranger, inspects a redwood tree at Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County, Calif., in this 2020 file photo. Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

More than 175,000 square miles (453,000 square kilometers) of old-growth and mature forests have been identified on U.S. government land, an inventory report released on Thursday has revealed.

The federal government’s first-ever national inventory of mature and old-growth forests (pdf) on federal land revealed more expanses of older trees than researchers had earlier estimated.

Most are in Western states such as Idaho, California, Montana, and Oregon. But they’re also in New England, around the Great Lakes, and in Southern states such as Arkansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia, according to a Forest Service online map.

“The reports released today will help enhance our work to protect and grow forests by creating a scientific framework for further study and public engagement for effective forest management and protection,” said Tracy Stone-Manning, BLM director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

U.S. Forest Service and BLM lands combined have more than 50,000 square miles (129,000 square kilometers) of old-growth forests and about 125,000 square miles (324,000 square kilometers) of mature forests, according to the inventory.

That’s more than half the forested land managed by the two agencies, and it covers an area larger than California.

The inventory’s release comes as President Joe Biden navigates opposing political pressures over federal forest management.

Many members of Congress, including some Democrats, want to ramp up logging to reduce wildfire risks. At the same time, environmentalists hope the inventory will be used to justify new restrictions on the timber industry.

Dead and dying trees stressed by historic drought conditions are in the Los Padres National Forest near Frazier Park, Calif., on May 7, 2015. David McNew/Getty Images

Strengthening Forest Protection

Biden’s executive order, signed last year in 2022, details his plan to strengthen forest protection.

“Strengthening America’s forests, which are home to cherished expanses of mature and old-growth forests on Federal lands, is critical to the health, prosperity, and resilience of our communities—particularly in light of the threat of catastrophic wildfires,” Biden said in a statement.

The 50,000 square miles of old-growth forests and older trees on U.S. Forest Service and BLM lands have been impacted by climate change, wildfires, and droughts, according to the inventory.

USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment Homer Wilkes said all of these factors impact the natural habitat. “Our forest ecosystems and communities are struggling to keep up with the stresses of climate change, whether it’s fire, drought, or insect infestations, it is clear that we must adapt quickly,” Wilkes said in a statement.

The government is working with environmentalists and local park rangers to conduct research projects to improve forest conditions, he said.

“The USDA and our federal, tribal, state, local, and community partners are working together to meet these challenges, pooling knowledge, sharing resources, and discovering new ways to conserve resources, protect communities and ensure future generations can enjoy the countless benefits our forests provide,” Wilkes added.

Republican Concerns 

U.S. Senator Steve Daines, Chairman of the Senate Western Caucus, and other Republican senators criticized how effective Biden’s forest management executive order would be in an open letter last year after Biden’s signed the order.

“We are concerned that any national or even regional definition of ‘old-growth’ or ‘mature’ trees, cannot possibly encompass this broad array of forest types in a meaningful way. By failing to acknowledge the role and need for increased management prescriptions, the order also fails to recognize the complexities of forest ecosystems, carbon cycles, and the carbon stored in forests and wood products.

“Furthermore, the Executive Order will divert limited time, staff, and away from aggressively utilizing the numerous management tools Congress has provided the Forest Service in recent years and implementing the Department’s stated goal of ‘dramatically increasing fuels and forest health treatments’ to instead create redundant analysis and more bureaucracy that is bound to tie the hands of land managers down the road,” the letter states.

The senators also questioned Biden in regards to “the amount of staff and financial resources that‘ll be available for this inventory project, why was the Administration creating new protections over existing and locally driven protections, and how will spending a year on the inventory of ’old-growth‘ and ’mature’ forests and cataloging risks assist be achieved?” the letter asked.

“We are still logging old growth and mature forests here at home,” Miller-McFeeley said in a statement. “The focus has been largely on the number of board feet (harvested). It has not been focused on which trees are most scientifically smart to bring down for climate, for community protection from wildfires.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.