#Trump admin declares emergency in #California's #federal #forests

The executive action spans the entire state

By Erin Rode, Contributing LA Outdoors EditorApril 8, 2025

"A memo from the secretary of the United States Department of #Agriculture released last week outlines the Trump administration’s plans to quickly expand logging operations in the country’s #NationalForests, which could dramatically reshape the landscape of popular recreation areas in California."

Read more:
https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/california-national-forests-logging-20263873.php

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/K6esm

#MonochromeMonday

This is not progress.
This is not civilized.
We need to protect remaining #OldGrowth #AncientForests. They're our 2nd largest #CarbonSinks - after the giant kelp forests in the oceans. #Clearcutting forests should be banned.

"The increasing severity of #wildfires and #drought highlights that reforming #ForestStewardship – taking better care of the forests, including safeguarding #OldGrowthForests – is one of our best hopes to protect communities across B.C.

Harmful #forestry practices like #clearcutting and #unsustainable #IndustrialLogging make extreme heat and wildfires worse. #Clearcuts are #tinderboxes, more prone to creating embers because dead trees and branches dry out in the hot sun and become more #flammable. Tree plantations and improperly tended young forests also increase wildfire risk: Younger trees have thinner bark and low-hanging branches that can act as ladder fuels, and the trees are often planted too close together, making it easy for fire to spread.

Fortunately, intact and properly managed #forests are more resilient to the worsening wildfires and heatwaves. For example, #OldGrowth #rainforests have dense canopies which provide cooling shade that resists fire. They are cooler and wetter than young forests, acting as giant sponges. Old-growth trees in the drier interior have thick bark, high branches and are widely spaced which all reduce #WildfireRisk.

"After an area has met the legal requirement for #regeneration, it is handed back to the state — and is no longer the responsibility of #VicForests to look after.

“Many of these coupes that have failed regeneration have actually been ticked off and handed back to the Victorian government some years back in a failed state,” said Mr Patton."

#logging #ClearCutting #Australia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-01/ai-analysis-finds-failed-forest-regrowth-after-logging-/103153614