For Immediate Release - March 21, 2017
 
Contacts: 
Scot Quaranda, s...@dogwoodalliance.org, 828.242.3596

New Climate Report Calls for Urgent Action to Protect US Forests 

Report defines key climate solutions connected to forest protection and 
documents how 
logging across the US, the world’s largest wood producing and consuming 
country, is 
threatening the climate and exacerbating the impacts of natural disasters. 

Asheville, NC -  According to a new report released today on the International 
Day of 
Forests, a massive scale-up in forest protection in the United States, is 
critical to solving 
the climate crisis and providing a safety net for communities against extreme 
weather 
events. Despite its importance, forest protection in the United States is not 
currently seen 
as a climate priority, and government and industry often promote increased 
logging as a 
climate solution. 

“In order to meet the ambitious goals set forward by the Paris Climate 
agreement, the 
United States is going to need to aggressively reduce emissions from fossil 
fuels while also 
accelerating the removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide by protecting and 
restoring forests 
here at home,” said Dr. Bill Moomaw, a climate scientist who co-authored the 
report with 
Danna Smith, Executive Director of Dogwood Alliance who has been a leader 
working on 
the front-lines of industrial logging in the U.S. for over 20 years. 

“The Great American Stand: US Forests and the Climate Emergency,” highlights 
how 
standing forests represent our best available technology for removing carbon 
from the 
atmosphere and storing it long-term.  Meanwhile, the rate and scale of logging 
in U.S. 
forests for wood, paper and fuel are among the highest in the world.  Logging, 
past and 
present, has significantly degraded U.S. forests’ climate stabilizing capacity, 
and a new 
path must forward must be created in order to restore U.S. forests for their 
climate 
benefits.

“Forests are both vital to solving the climate crisis and are our best 
protection against the 
worst impacts of climate change,” said Ms. Smith. “Our hope with this new 
report is that 
leaders across federal, state and local governments, businesses, nonprofits and 
citizens 
accelerate actions to protect and restore our nation’s forests to help solve 
the climate 
crisis and protect our most vulnerable communities from the worst effects of 
climate 
change.”
 
Despite a growing understanding of the critical role standing forests play in 
the fight 
against climate change, increased logging is often promoted by government and 
some in 
the forest industry as a climate solution.  In the past three years the forests 
of the coastal 
South have become the largest source of wood pellet exports to Europe, where 
they are 
burned in power stations to generate electricity as a “climate friendly” 
alternative to coal.

“We cannot log and burn our way out of climate change,” stated Dr. Bill Moomaw. 
“Logging 
forests and burning trees to generate electricity in place of coal while not 
counting the 
emissions may help governments meet their emission goals, but the atmosphere 
and 
climate is where the real accounting takes place. While forests have been 
successfully 
regulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for 300 million years their 
potential to address 
climate change in the coming centuries is significantly underestimated.”

Standing forests provide a proven means for atmospheric carbon removal and 
storage that 
can operate at the necessary scale and time frame to keep the world from going 
over the 
climate precipice. Forest protection, restoration and expansion must therefore 
become a 
top priority in America’s climate agenda. The report calls for a new generation 
of 
government and corporate policies that recognize the climate, water and 
community 
benefits of standing forests.

To download the report, visit: www.dogwoodalliance.org/forests-climate

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