Conservation efforts affect national forests in four Blue Ridge states.
Photo Above: Old growth and mature forests would gain protections in a USFS plan.
In a historic move, the U.S. Forest Service announced a plan to conserve and restore mature and old-growth forests on tens of millions of acres under its management—including several national forests in the Blue Ridge region. The agency has proposed a nationwide plan amendment—the first in its history—to guide future actions pertaining to old-growth and mature trees on all national forests.
In the Blue Ridge region, the plan covers national forests in the Nantahala-Pisgah in North Carolina, George Washington-Jefferson in Virginia, Cherokee in Tennessee and Monongahela in West Virginia. The proposal stems from President Biden’s Executive Order last April to conserve old-growth forests, which cover approximately 17% of America’s national forests.
“Old-growth forests are a vital part of our ecosystems and a special cultural resource,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. In national forests, old-growth contains headwaters for drinking water of downstream communities and provides recreation opportunities including hunting, hiking and paddling.
The U.S Forest Service has done an initial inventory of old-growth and mature forest and will continue to refine its research, assess the threats to these ecosystems and engage the public in finalizing the nationwide amendment.
“We want protecting old-growth to be a big part of the agency’s job,” said Sam Evans with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “I can’t overstate how important that is.”
The story above first appeared in our March / April 2024 issue.
