Hello All,

There are many factors that contribute to Climate Change: transportation, power generation, agriculture and internet servers, to name just a few.

You may already know that mature and old growth forests play a major role in moderating climate change by capturing and holding on to atmospheric carbon. The proposed Douglas-fir National Monument contains many mature and old growth groves that are working day and night sucking up and holding on to that carbon. The older the trees, the better. They are worth more standing.

President Biden knows this too. On Earth Day, he directed the US Forest Service and BLM to define mature and old growth stands and take an inventory of those mature and old growth forests under their management, with the intention to protect those trees.

His agencies are now asking to hear from you that we support this initiative.
And the devil is in the details. 

While it varies across the many ecosystems in the country; here is how we define it in the Pacific Northwest:
- big living trees over 80 years old
- dead snags for wildlife
- large dead trees lying on the ground
- large logs in the streams
- layers of living plants, shrubs and younger trees growing under the larger, older trees (known in the trade as a “multi-story canopy”)

The required inventory will be based on the final definition that will drive agency decisions for years to come, so it is important that they get it right from the start.

Help them get it right! Send your comments here  by August 15:
 https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/CommentInput?project=NP-3239 

We will be keeping an eye on their response and will let you know when to act next.

Dave

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