SUMMARY

Written by FOC policy director Jeff Juel, this report detail 40 years of Forest Service policy on mature and old-growth forest management. The document is a clear-eyed view of the agency's long-term trend of targeting older forests for timber production above all other purposes.

The report explores both the ecology and management of old-growth.

ECOLOGY

Old-growth, as a habitat, is difficult to define, but is generally accepted to be areas of forest where trees reach their upper threshold of age and size, tree age and composition is complex, soils are well-developed, and dead and decaying trees create structural diversity. These habitats tend to be highly biodiverse, especially for plants, fungi, and insects.

Old-growth provides unique ecosystem services. They naturally absorbed and store carbon dioxide for centuries, a potent greenhouse gas. They also exert huge impacts on the water cycle, whether by supplying clean spring water, increasing forest humidity, or mediating the impacts of heavy rain and snow on waterways.

Without human management, upwards of 25 or 30% of a forest landscape may be within the definition of "old-growth" at any given time. Old-growth is better understood as a specific kind of forest landscape that is approaching its zenith of complexity, rather than an individual tree that is old and large. Wild forests transition into and out of "old-growth" over millennia due to natural changes in fire regime, climate, and other disturbances.

Human management has upended this. However, it is difficult to know the current extent of mature and old-growth forests without on-the-ground assessment.

MANAGEMENT

The presence of large trees has made ancient forests easy targets for logging. Industrial timber production has obliterated old-growth habitats from Earth's forests, excepting isolated fragments of protected forest. Contrary to popular belief, the publicly-owned national forests of the United States are not, in general, protected areas for old-growth forests.

The report details how pseudo-scientific justifications to log old-growth forests (to protect from fire, to reduce insect infestations, to promote growth of larger trees, etc) have developed within the Forest Service, supplanting independent scientific research on old-growth forests as unique, unmanageable habitats.

Ultimately, the USFS fosters an agency culture that views old-growth as a negative to "restore", not a positive to "protect", making the future for this already rare habitat dire.

Read the embedded report below, or download the PDF at the bottom of this page.