This report of America’s 10 Endangered National Forests was produced in collaboration with the National Forest Protection Alliance.

Executive Summary

“Endangered forests” are the most valuable forests on the globe from which industrial resource extraction would cause irreparable harm. Representatives of Greenpeace, Forest Ethics, the Natural Resources Defense Council, World Wildlife Fund, World Resources Institute and the Rainforest Action Network consulted with a broad array of stakeholders to draft the first Endangered Forest Definitions, released in April 2001.

These forests are critical to maintaining biological diversity, protecting wilderness and serving as the core habitat of endangered plant and animal species. The term “endangered forest” is meant as a tool for consumers of wood and paper products – these forests are “NO BUY” forests. Many companies have committed to protecting these forests through their purchases, including Home Depot, Lowe’s, Staples and Kinko’s.

This report provides an in-depth, on-the-ground review of 10 particularly endangered national forests. NFPA received 22 nomination forms from forest protection groups and activists. Along with the 10 endangered forests, three forests received special mention and nine were designated as threatened. In the nominations, activists provided biogeographic descriptions of each forest, and assessed nine criteria based on a scale of one to five.

Key Findings
  • Commercial logging remains the biggest threat to the national forest system. Timber sales are increasingly disguised behind post-fire salvage and fire prevention operations, forest health initiatives and restoration programs. The Bush administration and the U.S. Forest Services (USFS) have manipulated the public’s fear of fire to undermine environmental laws and public process in pushing commercial logging and thinning agenda – these very same activities are what have created younger, denser and more fire-prone forests.
  • All 10 of the endangered national forests will be affected by the Bush administration’s attempts to undermine the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act – key environmental laws that have safeguarded public participation in balanced national forest management for decades. All 10 are also at risk from Bush’s attempts to gut the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
  • A geographic shift in the federal commercial timber sale program from western to eastern national forests continues. Several forests in the Great Lakes, Gulf coast and southeastern United States all see their timber sale volumes increasing.

With the onset of the Bush administration and its host of industry-friendly political appointees, the USFS has made an about-face on virtually every important issue affecting the protection of our national forests. Endangered Forests, Endangered Freedoms provides insight into the grim reality of what is happening to our nation’s natural heritage.

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Num. pages: 40

 

Read more about Greenpeace USA’s forest campaigns here.