USDA Cites Wildfire Risk, Invasive Insects In Orders To Expand Logging In National Forests

[christopher]

USDA Cites Wildfire Risk, Invasive Insects In Orders To Expand Logging In National Forests​

Sunday, Apr 06, 2025 - 07:00 PM
Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a memo on Friday allowing the use of more than 112 million acres of national forests for logging to increase timber production and reduce wildfire risk.

A crew member uses a tree processor to strip bark and branches from logs before being transported to a mill near Camptonville, Calif., Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Godofredo A. Vásquez /AP Photo
In the memo dated April 3, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins declared these forests—making up 59 percent of national forests—to be in an emergency situation due to their high risk of wildfires and hazardous tree conditions. The memo was released on April 4.

Rollins stated that the national forests are in crisis due to “uncharacteristically severe wildfires, insect and disease outbreaks, invasive species, and other stressors.”

Those threats—combined with overgrown forests, the growing number of homes in the wildland-urban interface, and decades of rigorous fire suppression—have contributed to a “full-blown wildfire” and “forest health crisis,” according to the memo.

“Healthy forests require work, and right now, we’re facing a national forest emergency,” Rollins said in a statement. “We have an abundance of timber at high risk of wildfires in our National Forests.”

The emergency designation would allow the Forest Service to expedite approval for logging activity in the designated forests, bypassing the usual processes required under national environmental laws.

The memo directs Forest Service personnel to increase timber production by 25 percent over the next four to five years, while also meeting the minimum requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental laws.

In a letter to Forest Service regional foresters, acting associate chief Christopher French said he will direct regulatory authorities to streamline approval processes for timber production in the designated forests.

French called on regional foresters “to the maximum extent practicable, use existing and new categorical exclusions for timber stand improvement, salvage, and other site preparation activities for reforestation, consistent with applicable law.”

Environmental group Earthjustice has rejected the USDA’s emergency designation.

“This absurdly vast, and poorly justified, emergency determination aims to boost logging and reduce environmental safeguards across most national forestlands in a handout to the logging industry,” Earthjustice legislative representative Blaine Miller-McFeeley said in a statement.

Miller-McFeeley said that cutting down trees that currently serve as “important buffers against climate change” will not help to reduce the threat of wildfires, and that it could cause “significant harm” to forest ecosystems and negatively impact the outdoor recreation economy.

The memo follows President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at increasing domestic timber and lumber production. The first executive order directed “all affected agencies” to suspend regulations “that impose an undue burden on timber production.” The second directed the commerce secretary to investigate the national security implications of timber imports.

Trump stated that the country’s abundance of timber resources is “more than adequate” to meet domestic needs, but that “heavy-handed Federal policies have prevented full utilization of these resources” and caused it to rely on imported lumber.

“It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security,” Trump stated in his order issued on March 1.

His second order states that the United States’ softwood lumber industry has the practical production capacity to meet 95 percent of its softwood consumption last year. Despite this capacity, the country has been a net importer of lumber since 2016, it stated.

The Forest Service has sold about 3 billion board feet of timber annually for the past decade. Timber sales peaked several decades ago at about 12 billion board feet amid widespread clear-cutting of forests.

Volumes dropped sharply in the 1980s and 1990s as environmental protections were tightened and more areas were put off limits to logging. Most timber is harvested from private lands.

Steven Kovac and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[christopher]

Wonder how this will play out?

 

[volcano buster]

I see two sides to it.
1) The forest management side in respect to forest health and fire mitigation took a nosedive in the 90's under Clinton. This could be improved on. This does not guarantee a fire resistant forest but it would help thin out the weaker trees and keep the road systems intact for fire suppression uses.
2) When was the last time you went to the lumber yard and they were out of lumber? Supply and Demand has been met with minimal Federal timber, State and then private lands. If there is a glut of excess logs entering the market to be milled that will drive prices down destabilizing the current wood manufacturing locations.

I am in this sector so I may be a bit biased. Given that the company I work for exports wood, we cannot purchase federal timber to backfill our needs for domestic uses. This is often the case for many other larger companies so the manufacturing of federal timber would either be handled by small companies that don't export or new start ups. I don't see too many willing to invest in starting a mill or purchasing a well used one to handle federal timber. Labor is another issue that affects all businesses but especially the timber industry. Mechanical equipment has come a long way to get guys off the ground but still a long way to go. The Feds have also decimated their orchard and nursery capabilities to reforest after logging, so I would imagine they would be targeting shelterwood or seed tree cuts so they can rely on natural regeneration despite hamstringing themselves without the use of herbicides to ensure a fair fight for new seedlings against competing vegetation. I won't go into the state of the current USDA employees.

 

[christopher]

I see two sides to it.
1) The forest management side in respect to forest health and fire mitigation took a nosedive in the 90's under Clinton. This could be improved on. This does not guarantee a fire resistant forest but it would help thin out the weaker trees and keep the road systems intact for fire suppression uses.
2) When was the last time you went to the lumber yard and they were out of lumber? Supply and Demand has been met with minimal Federal timber, State and then private lands. If there is a glut of excess logs entering the market to be milled that will drive prices down destabilizing the current wood manufacturing locations.

I am in this sector so I may be a bit biased. Given that the company I work for exports wood, we cannot purchase federal timber to backfill our needs for domestic uses. This is often the case for many other larger companies so the manufacturing of federal timber would either be handled by small companies that don't export or new start ups. I don't see too many willing to invest in starting a mill or purchasing a well used one to handle federal timber. Labor is another issue that affects all businesses but especially the timber industry. Mechanical equipment has come a long way to get guys off the ground but still a long way to go. The Feds have also decimated their orchard and nursery capabilities to reforest after logging, so I would imagine they would be targeting shelterwood or seed tree cuts so they can rely on natural regeneration despite hamstringing themselves without the use of herbicides to ensure a fair fight for new seedlings against competing vegetation. I won't go into the state of the current USDA employees.

The Yellowstone National Park fire will not soon recede from my memory.
That was the absolute EPITOME of Mis_management of forests in the USA.

As for Supply & Demand.
We have supply, but I sure wouldn't mind seeing the cost of lumber products come down from domestic production taking off once again.

 

[boondocker97]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the US imports a lot of lumber from Canada. If tariffs hold on that, it could reduce supply coming in, prices go up, and it would make the lumber industry more profitable down here to get going again, US supply catches up, prices level back out.

Net result is cleaning up some of our forests without being on the government dime and producing our own lumber again.

One thing that will be for sure is plenty of legal challenges from conservation groups. That will hold any meaningful progress up for a couple years at least.

 

[christopher]

One thing that will be for sure is plenty of legal challenges from conservation groups. That will hold any meaningful progress up for a couple years at least.

Presidential designation of a NATIONAL EMERGENCY gives Trump all manner of room to maneuver around them!

 

[volcano buster]

The US does import a fair amount of timber products from Canada.

Facts — BC Lumber Trade Council

The BC Lumber Trade Council (BCLTC) is the voice on trade matters for BC companies that represent the majority of the province’s lumber production.

bclumbertrade.com

I personally don't think the tariff war will take all that long.

 

[christopher]

I personally don't think the tariff war will take all that long.

Canada spectacularly bends the knee to the U.S. as Trump scores major victory over the '51st state'​

By STEPHEN M. LEPORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 21:12 EDT, 9 April 2025 | Updated: 23:59 EDT, 9 April 2025
Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney has backed down on his end of the trade war and agreed to negotiate 'immediately' on a new agreement in a victory for Donald Trump.

The president announced a 90-day pause on all new 'reciprocal' tariffs, in a major reversal which caused one of the biggest stock market rallies in history.

He did not spare China, however, instead slapping Beijing with yet another round of import taxes.

Carney, who has continued predecessor Justin Trudeau's antagonism since taking over as the leader of what Trump has referred to as the would be '51st state,' praised Trump for the move.

'The pause on reciprocal tariffs announced by President Trump is a welcome reprieve for the global economy,' he said in a post to social media.

The Liberal Party leader added that he and Trump 'will commence negotiations on a new economic and security relationship immediately following the Federal election.'

On March 23, Carney dissolved parliament and called for a snap election to be held April 28, which he is currently favored to win.

He said that while Canada will negotiate with the US, Trump's signal that he will negotiate with several other countries means his nation will have to react similarly.

 

[hilinerider]

even if you wanted more domestic production 85% of the mills in usa have all closed and been cut up for scrap,
definetely need to clean up the mess from decades of mismanagement but aren't many loggers left to do it

 

[BeartoothBaron]

US timber and lumber industry will definitely take a while to get up to speed, even if the legal and regulatory barriers get taken out (and, as mentioned, greenie lawsuits are and will be a problem). Of all the lumber I've bought in the last 6-8 years, I know some has come from Idaho, and probably a third from Canada. While the big lumber mills would take a while to come back, there is a bright spot, potentially, in smaller operators taking their place. There was an Amish guy I bought the lumber for my shop from a couple years ago. So I think there's hope, but there's a long way to go.

 

[Pickin’ Boogers]

A new mill opened recently in Nevada. It's on tribal land so the opposition had a hard time fighting it. Timber is being salvaged from recent fires in the Sierra.

 

[ExcursionPSD]

... Given that the company I work for exports wood, we cannot purchase federal timber to backfill our needs for domestic uses. ...

What? Why can't you purchase federal timber? Where does your wood come from now?

The U.S. lumberyards are not empty except after some severe weather events. So more domestic timber harvest and lumber production, would decrease the need to import wood products, and provide products that could be exported.

The carbon / oxygen effects of clearing some forests, that will then regrow, needs to be compared to the carbon / oxygen effects of rotting and burning of neglected forests.

 

[volcano buster]

What? Why can't you purchase federal timber? Where does your wood come from now?

The company owns a couple acres.
Where our lands are intermingled with Federal lands, usually BLM, we have right of way agreements that we can build roads/spurs and clear their downed timber but it has to stay on site for them to market (or not). We can't do anything with it besides set it aside.

There was concern that US Federal timber would be exported and not have adequate supply for domestic needs. Valid concern.
The environmental lobby was concerned that private landowners could sell their own timber on the world market and export these raw materials elsewhere just to be made whole by buying Federal timber sales to mill in their domestic mills. Legislation was put into place to keep this from happening. Given the increased value of some raw material grades it is of high interest to be able to export some logs to maximize return. This increases shareholder value for anyone following the stock market. Domestic wood pole production has a high return but a limited demand. Finally after all high return options are exhausted, then the logs would be available for domestic saw logs creating top notch quality dimensional lumber for purchase at the Home Depot type stores. Nothing but the best here...( add sarcasm here ).

Every company is in business to make money. If excess revenue is detected, competition pops up rather quickly. How many new mills pop up to help absorb the excess profit generated by the domestic manufacturing of timber to wood products? Very vew if any, outside of the example in NV listed above. With a quick turn around for Federal timber to be available to the open market, there just aren't people to administer the sales (boundary marking, road layout, timber marking (remember the seed/shelter wood comment), contract administration of the road builders, loggers, trucking, planters and any nursery system needed to generate seed at the orchards and then seedlings to be replanted. Once this glut of timber hit the market it would either be met with a low purchase price since there would not be a huge demand at the mills that are handling private timber at close to maximum capacity (shareholder value again) or it would drive current log prices even lower.

Since politics has a cyclic swing to it, large capital investments are chosen with caution. The current administration has 1.5 years until mid-term elections. There is a chance things may change, but then again, they may stay the same. 3.5 years until a general election when things will likely change somewhere and to some degree. Since it would take multiple billions of dollars to get a functional mill up and running (new or reopened) with anticipation of accepting a constant supply of Federal timber, I'm just not expecting to see this happen. This would take a multi-decade log supply agreement with the Feds and possibly State lands to ensure a profitable investment for a mill to be viable. Labor has been the crux of a lot of issues of late, and resurecting a mill town from the 90's when Clinton signed the Spotted Owl bill is likely not in the cards.

I do follow the SOPA reports of our local USFS offices and I get excited when I see them actually putting up thinning sales which is a step in the direction I think we need to restore forest health and keep the agency alive. Often times they get stopped in litigation which I think needs some attention. Besides, on low visibility days, these thinned hillsides are a flat out kick to ride in.