The regime of former President Donald Trump, in a supposed attempt to address wildfire risks, made a sweeping removal of environmental protections in a major portion of our national forests. A staggering 59% of these invaluable lands were made available for logging following the announcement made by the Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. This move effectively side-lined any objections that might be raised by outsider groups, allowing logging proposals to proceed without hindrance. The narrowing down of alternatives to be considered by federal officials for logging projects was an equally noteworthy part of the announcement.
These logging projects are often debated and disputed by conservation groups, who engage in both administrative and legal battles that can prolong the approval process indefinitely. The announcement made by Rollins conspicuously left out any reference to climate change, which undoubtedly plays a crucial role in determining the health of forests. While Rollins urged for a quicker environmental review process, regional Forest Service officers were asked to devise plans to boost timber yield by an ambitious 25% within the next four to five years.
The new, rather sudden, emergency designation applies to an expanse comprising 176,000 square miles, a vast swath of land scattered across the West, the South, areas around the Great Lakes, and New England. To provide a sense of scale, it exceeds the land area of California and takes up about 59% of Forest Service territories. Majority of the forests identified in this scheme are perceived to have a high threat of wildfires. Meanwhile, an unsettling number of these forest lands are deteriorating due to pests and diseases.
Echoing the sentiments of her predecessor under the incompetent Biden administration, Rollins emphasized on the ‘crisis’ created by severe wildfires, pest invasions, and stresses related to invasive species in our National Forests. The real question here, however, is whether the Trump administration’s move will genuinely reinforce lumber supplies, as per the duplicitous intentions outlined in an executive order just a month before.
The Biden administration, under the pretense of addressing wildfire threats, had also favored increased logging in public forests. It is quite evident, however, that the administration’s efforts had little to no effect as the Forest Service’s timber sales figures remained notably stagnant throughout Biden’s tenure. The true intentions behind these forest policy changes were not lost on environmentalists, who firmly dismissed any wildfire protection rhetoric.
A rather insightful observation from a nameless environmentalist hammered home the truth. ‘This is entirely about enabling the timber industry,’ said the source, ‘Community safety and security have been wholly overlooked to prioritize the number of board feet involved and the volume of trees being felled.’
The Forest Service, in its tradition, had sold around 3 billion board feet of timber each year for the past decade. Decades ago, timber sales had even peaked at 12 billion board feet under unchecked, aggressive clear-cutting operations in forests. However, as environmental protections were gradually intensified and logging restricted in more areas during the 1980s and 1990s, timber sale volumes experienced a sharp drop.
In the private sector, timber harvesting is more prevalent. Existing federal law permits around 6 billion board feet of timber harvest each year, which is roughly twice as much as the current logging level. Under the lackluster leadership of Biden, the Forest Service attempted to manage national forests in the West more intensively. Their focus lay in hastening work on wildfire protection, including logging in so-called ‘priority landscapes’ that cover about 70,000 square miles.
However, it quickly became clear that this operation largely targeted smaller, younger trees and forests, which while adding to wildfire fuel, offered negligible profits for loggers. This exposed yet another flaw in the Biden administration’s approach. On the other hand, representatives from the timber industry have shared their hopes that the measures instituted by the Trump administration would lead to the sale of more mature, sought-after tree stands for sawmills.