"US Implements Forest Protections and Inventories Old-Growth Trees"
The Biden administration has identified over 175,000 square miles of old growth and mature forests on US 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 US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands combined have more than 50,000 square miles of old growth forests and about 125,000 square miles of mature forests, covering an area larger than California. The pending rule has been welcomed by environmentalists but has been met with skepticism by the timber industry and some members of Congress who have urged the administration to concentrate on lessening wildfire dangers by thinning stands of trees.