"An emergency order removes protections covering more than half the land managed by the U.S. Forest Service as the president aims to boost timber production."
"The Trump administration has removed environmental protections covering more than half of the land managed by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the president’s aim to significantly bolster the U.S. logging industry.
In a memo issued Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said “heavy-handed federal policies” have prevented the United States from making use of its “abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs.”
The directive, which established an “Emergency Situation Determination,” comes a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking changes to forest management to increase timber production by 25 percent.
Rollins added that, of the land that fell under the directive, almost 67 million acres were determined to be at a “very high” or “high” wildfire risk, and almost 79 million acres were experiencing “declining forest health” from insects and disease."
Angie Orellana Hernandez reports for the Washington Post April 5, 2025.
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