US plans new forest protections, issues old-growth inventory

The Biden administration has identified over 175,000 square miles of old growth and mature forests on US government land, and plans to draft a new rule to better protect the woodlands from fires, insects and other climate change side-effects, as per US officials. More than half the forested lands managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management is covered by those stands of older trees, which are increasingly under pressure.