More than 175,000 square miles (453,000 square kilometers) of old-growth and mature forests have been identified on U.S. government land, an inventory report released on Thursday has revealed.
The federal government’s first-ever national inventory of mature and old-growth forests (pdf) on federal land revealed more expanses of older trees than researchers had earlier estimated.
Most are in Western states such as Idaho, California, Montana, and Oregon. But they’re also in New England, around the Great Lakes, and in Southern states such as Arkansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia, according to a Forest Service online map.
“The reports released today will help enhance our work to protect and grow forests by creating a scientific framework for further study and public engagement for effective forest management and protection,” said Tracy Stone-Manning, BLM director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)….