America was once covered with one billion acres of towering primeval forests. These forests were teeming with plants and animals, a treasure-trove of evolutionary diversity and biological richness. Giant, centuries-old trees had trunks more than 15 feet wide and soared to the height of 30 story skyscrapers. The last remnants of America's virgin and natural forests, with their unique and irreplaceable life, reside mostly on our national forests. The 155 national forests cover a large portion of our country, an area about the size of California Oregon and Washington combined, and stretch from Alaska to Florida.
Most states have at least one national forest.
Deforestation is occurring on a massive scale in our national forests and is clearly visible from space. Satellite photos show that the rate of clearcutting in places like the Olympic National Forest of Washington state equals or exceeds the destruction in the Brazilian rainforests. Clearcutting describes logging which cuts down all or most of the trees in a forest area, destroying the forest. A World Resources Institute report concluded that the last of the original forests in this country will be lost without immediate action. This legislation would immediately halt and reverse the deforestation on our public lands.