Biden Signs Forest Protection Executive Order During Seattle Visit

SEATTLE — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday during his visit to Seattle. The president's Earth Day visit focused largely on climate issues, and, in keeping with the theme, his order aims to protect the nation's old-growth forests from wildfires, drought and other climate catastrophes.

The president, whose arrival through Puget Sound traffic into chaos Thursday, spoke Friday at Seattle's Seward Park, a large greenspace overlooking Lake Washington. There, he detailed his climate goals, contrasting his policies with those of his predecessor.

“We’ve reached the point where the crisis on the environment has become so obvious, with the notable exception of the former president, that we really have an opportunity to do things we couldn't have done two, five, ten years ago," Biden said.

Biden's administration has largely struggled to make meaningful progress on climate change thus far. Despite promising investments in clean energy and other green policies, those proposals have stalled in Congress. At Friday's talk, the president said he remained hopeful that change would come.

“Every time I get a little down ... I just turn on the television or take a look at all the young people,” he said. “This younger generation is not going to put up with all this stuff. No, they’re not.”

Following his speech, Biden sat down to sign his executive order. The order asks federal land managers in the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service to catalog all mature and old-growth national forests, identify potential threats to the trees, and create policies to protect them.

Climatologists say old-growth trees work as buffers against climate change, absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. With the move, the president hopes to counteract recent bad publicity. Russian oil sanctions pushed the White House to release more oil from the nation's strategic reserve and incentivize further drilling earlier this month— a move some see as a betrayal of earlier climate pledges.

However, many scientists do support the president's old-growth order. A group of 135 scientists recently delivered Biden a letter, calling on him to protect mature forests as a climate solution, the Associated Press reported.

"Older forests provide the most above-ground carbon storage potential on Earth, with mature forests and larger trees driving most accumulation of forest carbon in the critical next few decades. Left vulnerable to logging, though, they cannot fulfill these vital functions,'' the letter reads.

Biden was joined Friday by several high-profile Washington Democrats, including Rep. Adam Smith, and Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.

"I have said time and again that climate change is the greatest existential threat we face as a country," said Representative Smith. "We simply have no time to waste, and the President’s action today represents an important step in our fight against climate change by leveraging the benefits of old-growth forests. The EO will help put us on a path to promote forest resiliency and enhance our ability to prevent and fight wildfires, which have had devastating consequences in the Pacific Northwest."

Prior to the Seward Park signing, Biden and Murray also appeared at Green River Community College to talk about their plans to cap prices on prescription medicine.

“I’ve heard from so many people from Seattle to Spokane who work hard, play by the rules, save their money—but still have to make impossible choices to afford the life-saving medicine they need,” said Senator Murray. “And that’s the thing—life-saving medicine doesn’t save any lives if people can’t afford it. So here’s where Congress and the President can step in. We are pushing for meaningful steps to: bring down drug costs, and crack down on pharmaceutical companies that are driving prices up.”

Biden departed via Sea-Tac airport Friday afternoon, but his flight was briefly delayed by security concerns over an errant rice cooker. His two-day foray into Seattle and Oregon was the first time the president had visited the Pacific Northwest since his election.

Reporting by the Associated Press was used in this story.