On Earth Day, President Biden signs order to protect old-growth forests from wildfire

COLORADO, (KRDO) -- President Joe Biden honored Earth Day by signing an order to protect old-growth forests, mitigate the threat of wildfire and help local communities respond to forest fires.

This effort comes on a day when the state is dealing with extremely critical fire conditions.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed a ten-year strategy to reduce the wildfire risk through science-based fuels and forest treatments.

Here in Colorado, the forest service looks to treat more than 36,000 acres of national forest land along with the front range.

Though old-growth trees are known to be key buffers against climate change and soak up substantial amounts of carbon dioxide that usually contributes to global warming. 

With president Biden's new order federal land managers now need to define and inventory mature and old-growth forests nationwide within a year.

This ensures officials will be able to identify threats to older trees, such as wildfire and climate change, and develop policies to safeguard them.

"You end up with thousands of acres of timber being burned because they leave all this fuel on the ground," said Dan Casey, President of the Colorado Timber Industry Association.

Casey believes the solution will be simple but will require more loggers to play out their efforts.

"They have to pay loggers to mitigate and thin out the forest," added Casey.

As the state will look to partner up with many local agencies and landowners, the U.S. Forest Service will use mechanical thinning followed by prescribed fire to integrate their approach across the landscape.

The anticipated completion of the  “initial treatments” is set for the years 2027 to 2029.