What's next for old growth?

AMC Outdoors, September 2000

By Michele Pavitt

The Forest Service's newest initiative, the roadless plan, was developed in response to President Bill Clinton's call in October 1999 for protection of the last remaining roadless areas in our national forests. The plan, as outlined in a draft environmental impact statement released in May 2000, calls for a ban on road construction on over 54 million acres — or 28 percent of national forest land in the U.S. According to conservation groups, because it bans only new roads and not logging, the plan falls short of the President's vision.

The AMC, along with colleagues in the conservation community, published "Mountain Treasures," identifying 16 roadless areas totalling some 500,000 acres in the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) that deserve greater protection than the U.S. Forest Service's plan will provide. Walter Graff, AMC's deputy director, believes that the future of old growth depends on active participation in the forest-management planning process. "There are very few places in the Northeast," he says, "where you can let forests grow to old age, and where people, wildlife, and whole ecosystems can reap the benefits." Currently, the WMNF accounts for just 4 percent of the total annual timber harvest in New Hampshire.

"The benefit of [protecting old growth] will accrue more to future generations than to ourselves," says David Publicover, the AMC's forest ecologist. "It's hard for people to evaluate the tradeoff when the costs in terms of lost timber harvesting are concrete and immediate and the benefits — the habitat value and scenic and spiritual aspects — are hard to measure and far in the future."

So for now, Publicover must be content with only a few scenes of this magnificent natural artwork he compares to a Shakespearean drama. When he walks under the massive hemlocks and digs his hands into the belly of this self-regenerating landscape, he tries to imagine what the ancient forests looked like on a larger scale. "Our willingness to leave some places alone is a sign of wisdom, but also it's a sign of humility," he says. "It's a recognition that we're not masters of the universe."

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