Preservation of old-growth forests

DEFINITION: Forests containing many trees that have never been harvested by loggers

Persons involved in the timber industry generally view the large trees found in old-growth forests as a renewable source of fine lumber, but environmentalists argue for the protection of these trees, asserting that they are part of ancient and unique ecosystems that can never be replaced.

In the 1970s, scientists began studying the uncut forests of the Pacific Northwest and the plants and animals that inhabit them. One of the first results of this research was the U.S. Forest Service publication Ecological Characteristics of Old-Growth Douglas-Fir Forests (1981). In this report, biologist Jerry Franklin and his colleagues revealed that these forests are not just tangles of dead and dying trees; rather, they constitute unique, thriving ecosystems made up of living and dead trees, mammals, insects, and even fungi.

The lands usually referred to as old-growth forests are located primarily on the western slope of the Cascade Mountains in southeast Alaska, southern British Columbia in Canada, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. The weather in these regions is wet and mild, ideal for the growth of trees such as Douglas fir, cedar, spruce, and hemlock. Some studies have shown that there is more biomass, including living matter and dead trees, per hectare in these forests than anywhere else on earth. The trees in old-growth forests may be as tall as 90 meters (300 feet) with diameters of 3 meters (10 feet) or more and can live as long as one thousand years. The forest grows and changes over time in such a forest, not reaching biological climax until the forest consists primarily of hemlock trees, which are able to sprout in the shade of the sun-loving Douglas fir.

One of the most important components of the old-growth forest is the large number of standing dead trees, or snags, and fallen trees, or logs, on the forest floor and in the streams. The fallen trees rot very slowly, often taking more than two hundred years to disappear completely. During this time, they are important for water storage, as wildlife habitat, and as “nurse logs” where new growth can begin. In fact, seedlings of some trees, such as western hemlock and Sitka spruce, have difficulty competing with the mosses on the forest floor and need to sprout on fallen logs.

Another strand in the complex web of the forest consists of micorrhizal fungi, which attach themselves to the roots of the trees and enhance the roots’ uptake of water and nutrients. The fruiting bodies of these fungi are eaten by small mammals such as voles, mice, and chipmunks, which then spread the spores of the fungi in their droppings. Numerous species of plants and wildlife appear to be dependent on this to survive. The most famous example is the northern spotted owl, whose status and dependence on the old-growth ecosystem has caused great political and economic turmoil in the Pacific Northwest.

By the 1970s, most of the trees on the timber industry’s private lands had been cut. Their replanted forests, known as second growth, would not be ready for harvest for several decades, so the industry became increasingly dependent on public lands for raw materials. Logging of old-growth trees in the national forests of western Oregon and Washington increased from 900 million board feet in 1946 to more than 5 billion board feet in 1986.

Environmentalists claimed that only 10 percent of the region’s original forest remained, and they were determined to save what was left. The first step in their campaign was to encourage the use of the evocative term “ancient forest” to counteract the somewhat negative connotations of “old-growth.” They then found an effective tool in the northern spotted owl. This small bird was determined to be dependent on the old-growth ecosystem, and its listing under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1990 was a bombshell that caused a decade of scientific, political, and legal conflict.

Under the law, the Forest Service was required to protect enough of the owl’s to ensure its survival. An early government report identified 3.1 million hectares (7.7 million acres) of forest to be protected for the bird. Later, the US Fish and Wildlife Service recommended 4.5 million hectares (11 million acres). In 1991 US District Court judge William Dwyer placed an injunction on all logging in spotted owl habitat until a comprehensive plan could be put in place. The timber industry responded with a prediction of tens of thousands of lost jobs and regional economic disaster. In 1993 President Bill Clinton convened the Forest Summit conference in Portland, Oregon, to work out a solution. The Clinton administration’s plan, though approved by Judge Dwyer, satisfied neither the industry nor the environmentalists, and protests, lawsuits, and legislative battles continued.

As the twentieth century came to an end, timber harvest levels had been significantly reduced, the Northwest’s economy had survived, and environmentalists were promoting additional reasons to value old-growth forests: as habitat for endangered salmon and other fish, as sources for medicinal plants, and simply as repositories of benefits yet to be discovered. The decades-long controversy over the forests of the Northwest had a deep impact on environmental science as well as on US government policy regarding the preservation of natural resources; it also encouraged new interest in other native forests around the world, from Brazil to Malaysia to Russia. In the first decades of the twenty-first century, environmental groups such as the Old-Growth Forest Network and the Forest Stewards Guild worked to continue to protect old-growth native forests for future generations of animals, humans, and ecological systems. In April 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that asked federal agencies to complete a thorough inventory of old-growth forests to better protect them for the future. Not only did the order aim to protect the forests, but it also focused on the relationship between old-growth forests, carbon storage, and climate change. In response to Biden's executive order, in June 2024, the USDA Forest Service released a draft of an environmental impact statement for the proposed national old growth plan amendment for public comment.

Bibliography

“Biden Launches Process for Protecting Mature, Old-Growth Forests on Federal Lands.” Center for Biological Diversity, 22 Apr. 2022, biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/biden-launches-process-for-protecting-mature-old-growth-forests-on-federal-lands-2022-04-22/. Accessed 21 July 2024.

Dietrich, William. The Final Forest: The Battle for the Last Great Trees of the Pacific Northwest. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

Durbin, Kathie. Tree Huggers: Victory, Defeat, and Renewal in the Northwest Ancient Forest Campaign. Seattle: Mountaineers Books, 1996.

Keiter, Robert B. “Ecology Triumphant? Spotted Owls and Ecosystem Management.” In Keeping Faith with Nature: Ecosystems, Democracy, and America’s Public Lands. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003.

Kelly, David, and Gary Braasch. Secrets of the Old Growth Forest. Salt Lake City: Gibbs-Smith, 1988.

Maser, Chris. Forest Primeval: The Natural History of an Ancient Forest. 1989. Reprint. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2001.

Old-Growth Forest Network, www.oldgrowthforest.net/. Accessed 21 July 2024.

Wirth, Christian, Gerd Gleixner, and Martin Heimann, eds. Old-Growth Forests: Function, Fate, and Value. New York: Springer, 2009.