The Biden administration has identified more than 175,000 square miles of old growth and mature forests on U.S. government lands. The Associated Press obtained details on the government’s first-ever national inventory of older forests in advance of their expected public release on Thursday. Those older forests cover an area larger than California but are under threat by fires, insects disease and other side-effects of climate change. Administration officials say they plan a new rule to help protect the nation's woodlands. Skeptics from the timber industry and in Congress want more focus on fighting wildfires by thinning forests.
