…Advocates say there’s currently no national policy to protect mature and old-growth forests on public lands, but a new proposed nationwide forest plan amendment from the U.S. Forest Service would change that. A draft environmental impact statement (EIS) was issued on the proposal last week. A recent federal inventory determined that the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service together manage some 32 million acres of old-growth forest, with another 80 million acres of mature forests. …Some say the current approach to old-growth protection is piecemeal, or “forest by forest.” So a number of environmental groups called the Forest Service’s proposal “a step in the right direction.” …The timber industry has also raised issues with the proposal, with the American Forest Resource Council calling it a “politically driven process.” The group said the proposal does little to address the principal threats to old-growth, like wildfires, insect infestations and disease.