The American Forest Resource Council had the following to say regarding U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s memorandum directing the U.S. Forest Service to take “bold actions to restore forests, improve resilience, and address the climate crisis.”
“Wildfires are converting overstocked federal forests in the West from carbon sinks to carbon sources. The U.S. Forest Service must focus on addressing this crisis, which is killing large and old trees, destroying forests, watersheds, and wildlife habitat, and threatening human safety and public health. Proactive, science-based forest management, including thinning, is a key part of the solution. Federal policies for forests and carbon should align with the international scientific consensus and findings Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which recognize the climate benefits of managed forests and wood products, which together provide the greatest mitigation benefits for carbon sequestration and climate mitigation.”