Tell the Biden administration: Protect old-growth and mature forests

Re: FR Doc. 2022-15185

I urge you to act quickly to establish a durable rule that protects mature and old-growth forests.

Older trees accumulate and store tremendous amounts of carbon over many centuries, providing vital wildlife habitat, clean water, clean air and mitigation for floods and droughts. Protecting them is a key tool in the fight against climate change.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management need to consider the impacts of commercial logging, an easily preventable threat. Your rule must protect both old-growth and mature trees, the future old-growth, from timber harvesting. These trees are a critical component in our fight against climate change, we must let them grow to take advantage of their carbon storage capacity.

With forests disappearing and climate change accelerating, preserving existing trees is paramount and we have no time to lose.

Sincerely,