This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
The U.S. Forest Service has dropped plans for a final environmental impact statement related to managing old-growth forests on public lands such as those across western North Carolina’s national forests.
For more than two years, the agency has been planning for a major policy change aimed at protecting the nation’s hundred-plus-year-old trees from the ravages of climate change.
Much of the old-growth forest left on public land in the eastern United States can be found in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and particularly in the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests. Much of that land was severely damaged by Helene, which wrecked nearly 200,000 acres of public land with high winds and flash flooding.
The proposed Old Growth Amendment was designed to introduce consistency to old-growth protection on lands controlled by the United States Forest Service. The agency defines “old growth” differently in each region of the United States depending on the characteristics of the local forest. It was proposed to bring the agency in line with a 2022 Biden Administration executive order to protect old growth from climate change.
Many scientists and advocates were critical of the proposed amendment, saying it would have codified loopholes that allow for logging in old-growth forests. On the other side, Republican legislators and timber industry representatives criticized the Forest Services’ approach, saying logging is critical for many states’ economies and governors needed more input or control.
In an emailed statement, Forest Service representatives said that while the plan has been withdrawn, the research done to support it can still support old-growth forests in the future. “This process has helped us to identify the best available scientific information and given us the opportunity to engage with various individuals and groups to gain important insights that can help to guide our future stewardship of these special forests,” the Forest Service told BPR.
Will Harlan, the Southeast director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said that it may be better if the plan was killed, as old-growth protection can continue on the local level under current regulations while leaving room for future protections. He pointed out that under the Congressional Review Act, a Republican-controlled Congress could have killed the new regulations within the first sixty days of the incoming Trump administration.
“Probably for the next few years it's going to be a project by project site, wherever the forest service chooses a logging project,” Harlan said. “Advocates and conservation groups are going to be looking closely at any old growth that might be in those projects and fighting to protect them.”
Harlan, who lives near Barnardsville, said the research that the Forest Service did on identifying old growth will still be helpful. For instance, he plans to organize local advocates around a fire management proposal in recently identified old growth near the Craggy National Scenic Area.
