OPINION: Collaboration integral to Forest Service’s proposed national old-growth policy

Right now, the U.S. Forest Service is taking public comments through Sept. 20 on a first-of-its kind national policy to conserve old-growth forests in all 128 national forests across the U.S., and it has the unique opportunity to build off what New Mexico communities have already been doing — working together to restore forest resilience and ecological integrity.

As forests, and the communities that depend on them, face increasing threats from extreme climate-driven wildfires, the Forest Service leaders in D.C. can create a clear path to conserve our oldest forests while also promoting climate-informed wildfire management. We already have examples of how to do it here in New Mexico.

Currently there is no single national policy that governs the management of old-growth forests or protects them from threats posed by climate-driven disturbances and commercial logging. To the extent old-growth forests are protected, local forest management plans typically provide only limited protection of old-growth that is often outdated and inadequate.

Old-growth in New Mexico is as varies from cool spruce and fir on our mountain tops to stately ponderosa pines and expansive piñon-juniper woodlands. Although they may look nothing alike, these forests share similar stories. They play essential roles in sustaining resilient watersheds, healthy habitats, and vibrant communities, but they are all stressed by the warming and drying climate.

On a recent field trip to the woods south of Coyote, New Mexico, a diverse group of experts had a chance to discuss how to ensure the forests we love are there for our children’s children.

We saw large ponderosa pines that have likely been there since the area was a Spanish colony and visited the 3,600 acres where the 2014 Diego Fire killed a wide swath of forest.

Most importantly, we discussed how forest restoration can protect old trees, provide firewood for nearby homes, improve wildlife habitat, support local jobs, keep carbon out of the atmosphere, and reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire.

The Encino Vista Landscape Restoration Project we visited is built on nearly two decades of collaborative restoration in New Mexico. Since 2006, conservationists, timber industry, and forestry agencies have been coming together to collaboratively restore our forests by following common sense guidelines.

The New Mexico Forest Restoration Principles connect back to the tradition and continuing practice of Indigenous stewardship. New Mexico’s ability to focus where we agree, put aside differences, and work for the forests we all rely on, became a model for the national Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. This collaborative restoration model should serve as a roadmap for the proposed national old-growth policy.

The draft Forest Service policy is a step in the right direction, but it needs some improvements. Of course, it is crucial that the final policy ensures our remaining old-growth forests are stewarded for ecological health and integrity, not degraded.

The final policy should also promote the collaborative development of strategies which the Forest Service can follow to help our oldest forests adapt to climate change. Another key element is allowing some mature trees to become the old-growth forests of the future. Stewardship includes letting some forests grow old.

The current threats to forests are far too severe to continue business as usual. The proposed national old-growth policy can be a north star of ecological integrity if it incorporates science-based, community-supported stewardship – New Mexico can show them how.