The Biden administration on Tuesday abruptly dropped its nascent plan to protect old-growth forests after getting pushback from Republicans and the timber industry. It brings a sudden end to a yearslong process to craft a nationwide plan that would better protect old trees that are increasingly threatened by climate change. …President Joe Biden launched the initiative on Earth Day in April 2022. …The plan would have limited logging in old-growth forests, with exceptions to allow logging in some old-growth areas to protect against wildfires. But those exceptions were not enough for the timber industry and Republicans in Congress who bitterly opposed the administration’s proposal. They said it wasn’t needed since many forested areas already are protected. And they warned it could be devastating to logging companies that rely on access to cheap timber on public lands. …Montana Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines in a statement called the withdrawal of the old-growth plan a “victory for commonsense local management of our forests.”