U.S. to implement climate protections for old-growth forests.

The Biden administration has identified over 175,000 square miles of old growth and mature forests on U.S. government land and plans to create a new rule to better protect the nation's woodlands from fires, insects, and other side effects of climate change. The forests are under increasing pressure as climate change worsens wildfires, drought, disease, and insects. Environmentalists hope the inventory and pending rule will lead to new restrictions on logging, while the timber industry and some members of Congress have urged the administration to concentrate on lessening wildfire dangers by thinning stands of trees.