I’m not an avid social media user, so when “influencer” Alex Haraus (@alex.haraus on Instagram), who hit the big time with his activism working to stop the Willow Oil Drilling Project in Alaska, got involved with the effort to call attention to how important our last remaining old-growth forests are, and wanted to help drive public comments on a proposed national policy to protect these public forests last summer, you could color me skeptical. 

Half a million public comments later, call me a believer in the power of these platforms to raise awareness and transform casual video viewers into action-takers for our forests and climate. 

Now, as a more comprehensive draft plan for old-growth forest protection is rolled out for public feedback, I’m hoping Haraus’ feature-length film, Crown Jewels, can inspire even more action for our forests this summer. 

Back in December, the U.S. Forest Service announced a proposed nationwide forest plan amendment to advance protections for the remaining old-growth trees in all of the country’s national forests. A draft environmental impact statement for this amendment was just released in June, and it could add new restrictions on old-growth logging. It’s a step toward fulfilling the President’s Earth Day 2022 Executive Order 14072, which directed federal agencies to develop policies to protect mature and old growth forests on federal lands as a natural carbon and climate solution. 

But one step doesn’t win the race. 

While this could be the first-ever national policy to protect old-growth forests on Forest Service-managed lands from commercial logging, it needs to eliminate loopholes that can still send old-growth trees to the mill, and it needs to include meaningful protections for mature forests (future old-growth) as well. The outcomes of this process, and how meaningful they actually are, will depend on how far the public can push the agency and the Executive Branch to establish enforceable protections. 

Here in Oregon, we know full well how important our last remaining ancient forests are. They’re home to imperiled wildlife, they filter and cool our drinking water, and we visit them for recreation, renewal and to practice cultural traditions. Many of us have been working for decades to stop old-growth logging sales, protect roadless wildlands and enact policies that keep these forests intact for the many benefits — practical and intrinsic — they provide.

Haraus’ film, debuting in Eugene next week, explores these themes as his film crew travels from the rolling hills of West Virginia to the serene valleys of Wisconsin and to the temperate rainforest of Oregon. More than that, through grassroots storytelling, the film makes a case for protecting mature and old-growth forests across the federal estate and shows how the audience can help.

Watching a film is also just one step. With hundreds of thousands of acres of mature and old-growth forests still on the chopping block on our federal public lands, much is at stake. 

After decades of clearcutting Oregon’s ancient forests, and as we stand on the brink of a climate catastrophe, protecting mature and old-growth trees is a critical natural climate solution that will have a meaningful impact on the climate and biodiversity crises. We have a moral imperative to act boldly for future generations. These forests could be lost forever, unless we can demonstrate widespread support for protecting them. Let’s get to work.

A public comment period for the draft old-growth forest plan amendment for our nation’s public lands is open until Sept. 20. Learn more about how to weigh in at Climate-forests.org, or attend the Crown Jewels premiere at Art House in Eugene July 23, with a panel discussion featuring the film’s creator and local forest advocates from FUSEE and Oregon Wild. More info and tickets at EugeneArtHouse.com.

Chandra LeGue is senior conservation advocate for Oregon Wild and author of the book Oregon’s Ancient Forests: A hiking guide. She’ll be a part of the panel discussion at the film premiere event.