Vast tracts of California’s national forests will be tied up in Donald Trump’s executive order to expand timber production by more than 25%. That is according to The Los Angeles Times, which reveals that Trump has given the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees the US Forest Service, sweeping new powers to salvage timber in 18 of the Golden State’s forests, which collectively span 20 million acres of forestland.
“The USDA Forest Service stands ready to fulfil the Secretary’s vision of productive and resilient national forests outlined in the memorandum,” the agency told the LA Times in a written statement. “In alignment with the Secretary’s direction, we will streamline forest management efforts, reduce burdensome regulations, and grow partnerships to support economic growth and sustainability.”
As it stands, California is home to more federal forests than any other state, including the Angeles, Sequoia, and Klamath national forests – with officials still unsure how many acres of Californian forestland will be impacted by a Brooke Rollins, the Secretary of Agriculture, “Emergency Situation Determination” which now sees more than 112 million acres of National Forest “freed up” to protect against wildfire risk.
Last week, Wood Central reported that Rollins’s ruling would 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, all part of sweeping reforms ensuring the Forest Service delivers a reliable and consistent supply of timber.
It comes after an internal memo published by Chris French, the acting associate chief of the Forest Service, directed the heads of all nine Forest Service regions to develop five-year strategies to increase their timber volume by more than 25% over the coming years.
“Today, we enter a new era marked by pressing issues like a growing demand for domestic lumber and wildfire resilience,” French said. “The Executive Order, ‘Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production,’ identifies these issues and sets us on a path to overcome them.”
“To address these challenges, we need to increase our active forest management to improve the prosperity of rural America and the health of our forests. Our efforts will increase America’s wood independence, a thriving wood products economy, and the protection of our water supply.”
Starting April 4, French said the USDA has no more than 30 days to develop a national strategy that outlines our agency’s goals, objectives, and initial actions related to increasing active forest management: “Within the next 24 months, I expect each Regional Forester to establish 2 years’ worth of “shelf stock” of timber volume coming from project decisions for out-year implementation of their timber-related program of work. These decisions should be in place within the next 24 months.”
- For more information about Trump’s plans to ramp up timber production across the United States, click here for Wood Central’s exclusive coverage.
