Trump admin orders 25% increase in logging to harvest lumber, prevent forest fires

The US Department of Agriculture issued an emergency order on Friday to increase the amount of lumber being harvested in the US by 25 percent, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The directive was announced by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, who made a special emphasis on harvesting lumber from California in order to prevent wildfires.

“National Forests are in crisis due to uncharacteristically severe wildfires, insect and disease outbreaks, invasive species and other stressors,” the order stated, later adding, "These threats-combined with overgrown forests, a growing number of homes in the wildland-urban interface, and more than a century of rigorous fire suppression- have all contributed to what is now a full-blown wildfire and forest health crisis."

Breitbart reported that the increase in lumber may not just be for reducing fires, but also to increase production of lumber in the US because production "is likely to increase the supply of lumber and head off potential price increases due to tariffs on Canadian lumber, which could have a cascading effect on the American construction industry.”

The order also stated, "The United States has an abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs, but heavy-handed federal policies have prevented full utilization of these resources and made us reliant on foreign producers. It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security."

The logging industry has welcomed the action, while environmental groups have grown angry with the action. The emergency order covers 176,000 square miles of forest, mostly located in the western United States, but also in the Great Lakes region, the South, as well as New England.

“This industry needs a raw supply to remain competitive and keep the doors open,” president of Oregon-based American Forest Resource Council Travis Joseph told reporters. “We’re not even reaching half of what forest plans currently call for. Let’s implement our forest plans across the country, and if we did that, that should increase the volume that’s available to American mills and create American jobs and create revenue."