National Forests Face the Hatchet As Trump Administration Boosts Logging
The United States has announced sweeping changes to encourage more logging in the country’s national forests. A new emergency order requires rolling back environmental protections on almost 60% of the national forests, more than 112 million acres of land mostly in the west.
The Secretarial Memo issued by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins established an “Emergency Situation Determination” and will allow the Forest Service to bypass many existing environmental rules. Protections against wildfires and the need to boost the U.S. timber industry were cited as reasons.
“I am proud to follow the bold leadership of President Trump by empowering forest managers to reduce constraints and minimize the risks of fire, insects, and disease so that we can strengthen American timber industry and further enrich our forests with the resources they need to thrive,” Rollins said in a statement.