Forest Service Politically-Motivated Withdrawal from Protecting Old-Growth Forests Lacks Sound Forest Management Principles

Observational Science Experiment:

 I make my home near Mt Rainier National Park, which offers the variety of landscapes needed to test the hypothesis that undisturbed forests are healthier, less prone to fire and, in fact, protect the underground water supply.

During the peak of summer in 2024, the stream that comes directly from the Park has a high instream flow year-round. The water temperature is cold even in the summer. I plan on testing and monitoring it and will provide the results in subsequent posts.

Travel about five - to eight miles away to increasingly leave the Park's boundaries to the next stream. It loses instream flow significantly. The width of the instream flow and the depth of the water has reduced. The water is warmer but there is still tall Douglas Fir trees and other vegetation along the stream to protect the water from direct sunlight. As the width diminishes, so does the water's depth. Consider how the landscape changed in that five to eight mile distance. Old-Growth forests have become instead immature trees that have been cut and rotated for timber production on "private" timber company lands, or are recently replanted. There is less multi-layer canopy to protect the soil from the drying effects of the Sun. This effect lowers the year round instream flow because the younger trees lack the depth and kind of root structure to prevent immediate runoff and provide less shade to protect the soil's moisture. Living in a less predicable climate, when a rain event occurs, the moisture must be retained and protected to recharge the aquifers.

Now, traveling another distance of about three miles down the same road , the next stream after that is DRY. There are more houses dependent on well water, and trees have been nearly eliminated from the landscape. It isn't complicated.

Old -Growth forests are less prone to the pressures of drought because these forests are better at retaining soil moisture and reduce the solar, evaporative effect. I believe upon a careful analysis, the public forests that have been routinely exploited are where we experience the highest threat of fire. All experts agree that most fires have been human caused, not by lightening.

Research published by Ecosphere found old-growth forests are less susceptible to high-intensity wildfires than young-trees.

The Old-Growth Plan Amendment would have required the U.S.D.A. Forest Service to conserve and steward Old-Growth forests, recognizing that contiguous Old-Growth forests are needed to protect and buffer hydrological cycles. These Old-Growth forests also function as significant habitats for wild animals, birds, as well as peaceful refuges for recreationists.

President Biden initiated the forest Plan with an Executive Order (#14072) on Earth Day in April 2022. About a year later, the U.S.D.A. announced its Notice of Intent to alter and implement President Biden's Plan when Representative Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced legislation to interfere in the implementation of President Biden's Executive Order and play partisan politics to PREVENT the U.S. Forest Service from finalizing the Old-Growth Amendment Plan's draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

It amazes me how Newhouse as a Washington State politician can be so uninformed or short-sighted to prevent protection of these forests. Newhouse made a disturbing claim that the protection of value-added services these forests provide us is not in touch with the needs of Rural America. It is outlandish to suggest that preserving Old-Growth forests is not a benefit to Rural interests. Old-Growth is the least prone to fires because even with more drought, as a result of climate change, their functional multi-layer systems mitigate and prevent drying of the soil. Old-Growth forests help to store water and release water more slowly.

Old-Growth forests are defined as over 100 years old and have a multi-canopy mosaic that due to canopy density prevents largely the Sun from drying out the soil. The various depths of roots in a multi-species forest also retain water better in the soil than mono-cultured tree farms grown exclusively for timber production. Trees left in their environment are amazing at generating the hydrologic cycle from soil moisture to transpired moisture in the atmosphere, which then creates rain to start all over again! A failure to protect these last vestiges of healthy forests will worsen climate change by drying the soil more and increasing drought and threat of fires.