It's really like being in a fairy forest.

I mean, it's almost out of Lord of the Rings.

Julliet Outburn is a climate editor for the post.

Over the summer, she traveled to the Tongas National Forest in Alaska, the home of some

of the oldest trees in the country.

For loggers, just one of these trees can be sold for thousands of dollars, but they're

also valuable to the rest of us.

Just because of the role they play in cooling our warming planet.

One of the reasons that old growth trees are so valuable from a climate perspective

is that they have been taking in carbon for hundreds of years.

I think the way to think about it is that in many cases, the old growth trees that we see

in the Tongas and elsewhere hold a disproportionate amount of carbon, and that's one of the reasons

why people are saying that they should not be cut down at this point.

From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports.

I'm Clevuteson in for Marting Powers.

It's Monday, January 3rd.

Today, how ancient trees and the Tongas National Forest became so embroiled in the politics

of timber and climate change.

The idea that these forests need to be preserved is actually pretty new.

For decades, logging of old growth forests in Alaska was the norm.

Julia spoke to one of the many people who built their lives around logging.

My name is Richard Wilson.

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