Trump Administration opens half of national forest land for logging

The Trump administration is pushing for more logging on public land, pledging to boost America’s domestic supply of wood products and increase wildfire resilience. 

In March, the President issued an executive order directing federal agencies to begin finding ways to expand timber production by 25% over the next few years. 

Last week, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent a memo establishing an “emergency situation determination” covering more than 112 million national forest acres. That includes five national forests in Washington state.

Rollins identified these acres as having either high wildfire risk or declining forest health – allowing timber harvesting to be fast-tracked through environmental regulations. The USDA boasted the memo would “increase timber outputs, simplify permitting, remove National Environmental Policy Act processes” and “reduce implementation and contracting burdens.”

Big picture, more than half of the land managed by the U.S. Forest Service is now opening for logging. Soundside spoke with Kristen Boyles from Earthjustice Northwest, Travis Joseph with the American Forest Resource Council, and Tom DeLuca from Oregon State University's College of Forestry to get their thoughts on the recent changes to federal forest management. 

Guests:

• Kristen Boyles, managing attorney for Earthjustice Northwest, a non-profit environmental law organization. 
• Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council, a trade association representing those who work with public timber in the Western United States.
• Thomas DeLuca, dean of the College of Forestry at Oregon State University. 

Related links:

• Trump proposed cutting the Northwest’s national forests. So what happens next? | The Seattle Times
• National forests face less protections, more logging, Trump admin says

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