FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Federal Protection On The Way For Oregon’s Old Growth Forests?

Senator Wyden releases new old-growth protection and restoration proposal

Conservation groups applaud the announcement and commit to work with Senator Wyden to obtain the best possible protections for old growth.

Conservation groups are welcoming Senator Ron Wyden’s (D-OR) announcement of a new proposal to protect some of Oregon’s last remaining mature and old-growth forests.  The proposal, aimed at preserving mature and old-growth forests on federal lands while directing the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to instead pursue conservation-based thinning projects, comes at a time when the Bush administration is seeking to dramatically increase logging of ancient trees. 

“We know that Senator Wyden shares the values of the majority of Oregonians who want to safeguard our mature and old-growth forests,” said Oregon Wild Executive Director Regna Merritt.  “This proposal is a step in the right direction, but falls short in some areas.  We look forward to working with the Senator to ensure strong protection for old-growth forests today and into the future.” 

Legislation is needed to ensure these mature and old-growth forests continue to provide their many benefits to future generations of Oregonians.  Mature and old-growth forests provide communities with clean drinking water, critical habitat for salmon and other wildlife, and are an important part of the quality of life and identity of the region. A growing body of research is finding that mature and old-growth forests can also play an important role in combating global warming.  In Oregon alone, forest growth, primarily on federal land, sequesters nearly 50% of the state’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.  The region’s old-growth forests store more carbon per acre than any other ecosystem on earth. 

“Global warming is the biggest environmental challenge of our time, and the protection of mature and old growth forests here in the Northwest should be a cornerstone of any strategy to combat it,” said Jonathan Jelen, Old Growth Campaign Coordinator with Oregon Wild. “We’ve lost as much as ninety percent of our historic old-growth. Not only must we save the little we have left, we must work to aggressively restore more old forests across the landscape.”
 
Today’s announcement comes at a time when Northwest forests face increasing threats in the final months of the Bush administration.  The Bureau of Land Management’s Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) would increase old growth logging by 700 percent on 2.6 million acres of forested land. The administration has also recently sought to weaken protections for threatened and endangered species, such as the Northern Spotted Owl, in order to allow for increased old-growth logging.

“We applaud Senator Wyden’s leadership in working to protect our remaining mature and old growth forests,” said Randi Spivak, American Lands Alliance Executive Director.  “We very much look forward to working with the Senator to strengthen his proposal to ensure that mature and old growth forests, which are also some of the most fire resistant are truly protected and restored across the landscape.”

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