Mature and Old-Growth Forests of the Conterminous United States

Mature and old-growth forests (MOG) of the conterminous United States collectively support exceptional levels of biodiversity but have declined substantially from logging and development. National-scale proposals to protect 30 and 50% of all lands and waters are useful in assessing MOG conservation targets given the precarious status of these forests. The authors of DellaSala et al. (2022) present the first coast to coast spatially explicit MOG assessment based on three structural development measures—canopy height, canopy cover, and above-ground living biomass to assess relative maturity.

This gallery contains the main project output from "Mature and Old-Growth Forests Contribute to Large-Scale Conservation Targets in the Conterminous USA" DellaSala et al. (2022). This data was separated into eight geographic areas to decrease working/viewing time. These datasets show the distribution of forest maturity and stand development using a simplified display, where ten classes have been collapsed into three categories: Young (classes 1-3); Intermediate (classes 4-6) and Mature (classes 7-9).

For more information or to download to national dataset, visit the Mature Forests website: https://www.matureforests.org/home