The Forest Service will hand off to the incoming Trump administration a proposal to incorporate climate change into the management of environmentally sensitive forests in the Pacific Northwest.
The agency last week proposed tweaks to the Northwest Forest Plan that acknowledge the growing effects of climate change and aim to more closely conserve mature and old-growth stands across more than 24 million acres.
The proposal faces an uncertain future in the incoming administration, as President-elect Donald Trump has taken a dim view to climate action. While the proposal is a “big step forward” on forest conservation, “I tend to think this is not a significant priority for them,” said Susan Jane Brown, an environmental lawyer and president of Oregon-based Silvix Resources.
In a draft environmental impact statement, the Forest Service said its proposal “addresses the need for conservation and recruitment of mature and old-growth forest conditions,” in keeping with the Biden administration’s broad moves to balance logging and forest preservation.
