Brooke Rollins, the US Secretary of Agriculture, has issued a Secretarial Memo to establish an “Emergency Situation Determination” across more than 112 million acres of National Forest System land. It comes weeks after an Executive Order to “free up the forests” to expand timber production by 25%, empowering the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to expedite work on the ground and carry out authorised actions to reduce wildfire risk.
“Healthy forests require work, and right now, we’re facing a national forest emergency. We have an abundance of timber at high risk of wildfires in our National Forests. I am proud to follow the bold leadership of President Trump by empowering forest managers to reduce constraints and minimise the risks of fire, insects, and disease so that we can strengthen the American timber industry and further enrich our forests with the resources they need to thrive.”
Secretary Brooke Rollins, who announced the special memo late last week.
Wood Central understands the memo will also spur immediate action from the USFS in directing field leadership to increase timber outputs, simplify permitting, remove National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes, reduce implementation and contracting burdens, and work directly with states, local government, and forest product producers to ensure that the Forest Service delivers a reliable and consistent supply of timber.
Trump Agenda — Forest Service Appoints Top Forester
In March, Secretary Rollins appointed Tom Schultz, a former lumber industry executive, to replace Randy Moore as the USFS Chief Forester: “Tom is the right person to lead the Forest Service right now, and I know he will fight every day to restore America’s national forests,” Secretary Rollins said. “Together, Tom and the incredible employees at the Forest Service will work to execute President Donald J. Trump’s agenda to make America’s forests healthy and productive again.”
In recent weeks, Wood Central has reported the US is looking to expand its capacity to log and mill more American timbers – with Trump ordering Howard Lutnick, the US Secretary of Commerce, to assess its reliance on imported timbers, which they deem a national security risk: “As we understand it, the Trump administration sees (timber) products as part of product groups that they wish to permanently bring back to the US and are going to be subject to special (= higher duties) moving forward,” according to Fordaq, reporting on steep new tariffs announced last week.
