Old Growth Forever!

Preserving the past for the future...

The Grand Canyon Chapter has launched an exciting campaign to protect and restore old growth forests in Arizona. Called Old Growth Forever!, the campaign seeks to increase the level of public awareness and outrage over the continued logging of rare old growth trees in the Southwest.

Over ninety-five percent of the Southwest's original old growth forests have been destroyed by intensive logging over the last one hundred and twenty years. Because of this, in 1995 the National Biological Survey declared the ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest one of the most endangered ecosystems in the nation.

Perched on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the Kaibab Plateau is home to the highest remaining density and distribution of these ancient pines and the species that depend upon them for survival. The remaining old growth on the Kaibab Plateau represents our best opportunity to preserve and restore the ponderosa pine ecosystem. Given its ecological importance, the Old Growth Forever! campaign will first focus on protecting the remaining old growth on the Kaibab National Forest.

The campaign will involve the public so that we can achieve permanent protection for approximately 400,000 acres of old growth on the Kaibab Plateau through the creation of an old growth preserve. Such a designation would bring about changes in forest management that will preserve all remaining old growth trees and perpetuate old growth conditions across the Kaibab Plateau.

Currently, only 5 percent of our centuries old, old growth forests remain in the Southwest. It is time to preserve and protect these unique and imperilled ecosystems. The Grand Canyon Chapter is at the forefront of such efforts, and we invite you to join in this historic opportunity. Old Growth protection is necessary in order to preserve and protect the viability of species dependent upon Old Growth ecosystems, species that cannot speak for themselves.

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