The conservation community needs to be prepared to exploit the next big opportunity to greatly advance the conservation of public lands and waters in the United States.

In 1770 Edmund Burke said, “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one.” Culture rewrote it into “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” In this case, either works.

Following an executive order from Governor Kotek, Oregon may significantly elevate the conservation status of 10 percent of the land and water in the state in the next decade—or it may not.

If currently degraded forests are included in a national monument dedicated to long-term conservation, our grandchildren will be able to see the vast landscape of old-growth Douglas-fir forests that our grandparents saw.

While the number of big trees in the United States has generally been increasing, this increase is from an impoverished baseline and will soon reverse if Big Timber gets its way.

Big old trees play outsized roles in a forest stand in terms of biodiversity, carbon storage, and carbon sequestration.

The Forest Service is blowing President Biden’s chance of saving mature and old-growth forest for this and future generations.

The Forest Service’s announcement that it is going to amend all national forest land management plans to “conserve and steward” old-growth forests is a start, although it’s a third of a century late and the proposed amendment is as light on conservation as it is loose on stewardship. As now proposed, the amendment leaves out mature forests, and the agency would leave loopholes large enough for log trucks loaded with old-growth logs to drive through.

The Forest Service has announced it is going to be proposing new regulations to address the “climate resilience” of the National Forest System. We can hope these will include the conservation and restoration of mature and old-growth forests and trees.

The Oregon Legislature is taking up a bill to establish the Elliott State Research Forest. It is vital that the legislation become law in early 2022.