Report: Existing Forest Service policy could have lessons for old-growth forest restoration

Boise State Public Radio News | By Murphy Woodhouse

Published October 30, 2023 at 12:30 PM MDT

FILE - Old growth Douglas fir trees stand along the Salmon river Trail on the Mt. Hood National Forest outside Zigzag, Ore. A federal judge has found that a Trump-era rule change that allowed for the logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest violates several laws. U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Hallman on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023 found that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act, and the Endangered Species Act when it amended a protection that had been in place since 1994. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program is a bipartisan, 2009 policy that has funded restoration projects across the country, including a number in our region. A new report finds that the vast majority have included efforts to preserve mature and old growth forests. Some environmental groups say it could serve as inspiration for a 2022 Biden administration executive order to mitigate threats to such forests, which support critical ecological processes.

The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program is a bipartisan, 2009 policy that has funded restoration projects across the country, including a number in our region. A new report finds that the vast majority have included efforts to preserve mature and old growth forests. Some environmental groups say it could serve as inspiration for a 2022 Biden administration executive order to mitigate threats to such forests, which support critical ecological processes.