HuffPost — Critics say it is time for the White House to make demands of the Forest Service instead of letting the agency advance pro-logging policies.
On Earth Day last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at protecting and restoring mature and old-growth forests on federal lands across the country. The order acknowledged the “irreplaceable role” forests play in sequestering planet-warming greenhouse gasses.
But a little more than a year later, the Forest Service isn’t taking the matter seriously enough, leaving the door open for the timber industry to keep chopping down mature and old-growth forests.
It is the latest example of an entrenched, pro-logging mindset within the Forest Service, and the Biden administration’s hesitance to push the agency to abandon its old ways, despite publicly proclaiming its support for protecting mature and old-growth forests.