2023-Sierran-digital - Flipbook - Page 10
Forests For a Sustainable Future
By Angela Lin, Isabela Valencia, Anita Roy Dobbs
How do you picture our national forests? Do you picture
vast expanses of wilderness, home to more kinds of
trees than you could name, alive with bears, moose,
wolves, and hawks?
Reality paints a different picture. Only a small
fraction of our national forests can be considered true
wilderness—roadless, old growth stands resembling
the untamed beauty we imagine. A realignment of our
public forest values is long overdue, one that shifts away
from valuing timber as a crop—the position of US Forest
Service management—and toward combating climate
and biodiversity disruption, and promoting public
enjoyment and health.
The prevailing approach to protecting forests leans
towards conservation, in which forests are managed for
a sustainable supply of products including timber and
biomass extraction. This conservationist stance has led
to the commoditization of public forests, compromising
their resilience (https://bit.ly/3QOJH9M) against
threats such as wild昀椀res, natural disturbances, and
invasive species.
Logging, regardless of its purpose (https://bit.
ly/3soCR1q), is not a climate solution because it raises
carbon emissions and the carbon storage the felled
trees and soil may have provided for decades to come
is lost. The practice of thinning, which involves selective
tree removal (often including the biggest trees) to
purportedly enhance habitat resilience, often produces
unintended negative consequences. Thinning, as well
as other tree harvesting practices, such as salvage
logging, are logical for producing ideal forest products,
but should not be construed as bene昀椀cial for natural
ecosystems.
Heavy machinery used in logging projects compacts
the soil, reduces carbon storage, increases erosion,
and decreases biodiversity. Scienti昀椀c studies show
that unmanaged forests consistently exhibit greater
structural complexity and biodiversity than managed
ones. There is growing consensus that minimal
human intervention maximizes both forest health
and ecosystem bene昀椀ts. In contrast to conservation,
preservation under a regime of minimal human
intervention, known as proforestation (https://bit.
ly/3SylSUX), yields higher carbon sequestration and
storage rates.
Photo: Allison Mesa, U.S. National Parks
A recent study, Wildlands in New England (https://
bit.ly/3u4Joz1), documents the need for extensive
expansion of forever wild lands across New England:
“Wildlands form a central component of 30 x 30, the
nationally and internationally embraced goal to protect
30 percent of the land and waters of the Earth by 2030
to address the looming crisis of biodiversity loss, climate
change, and human welfare.”
By transitioning to a preservationist approach and
designating public lands as permanent reserves, we
can maximize carbon sequestration, storage, and
biodiversity, reach our climate goals, and preserve the
health of our forests for generations to come.
Susan Masino, an old-growth forest champion, poses a
central question: “Where are we going to do no harm?”
The answer from Sierra Club and forest allies is this:
Permanently protect Massachusetts state forests
in perpetuity, as reserves. Incentivize private forest
owners to either sustainably manage their forests for
timber products, or permanently protect them for
maximum climate bene昀椀ts.
How you can take action:
Ask your legislators to support forest protection bills at https://bit.ly/498fsBN
Read the resources provided at https://bit.ly/407hm1H
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