A lumber industry advocate hails the ‘common-sense directives.’ An environment group sees a ‘chainsaw free-for-all.’
President Donald Trump on March 1 issued two executive orders aimed at increasing domestic timber and lumber production, drawing praise and criticism.
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 study the national security implications of timber imports.
Responding mainly to the first order, Blaine Miller-McFeeley of Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, said on March 1 that the administration is starting “a chainsaw free-for-all on our federal forests.”
“Americans treasure our forests for all the benefits they provide, such as recreation, clean air, and clean drinking water,” Miller-McFeeley said in a statement on the group’s website. “But this order ignores these values and opens the door for wild lands to be plundered, for nothing more than corporate gain. In the long run, this will worsen the effects of climate change, while also destroying critical wildlife habitat.”
Miller-McFeeley said that the order “seeks to weaken the Endangered Species Act … the best tool available for ensuring the survival of threatened species and addressing the biodiversity crisis.”
American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) President Travis Joseph praised the executive orders.
“These are common-sense directives Americans support and want from their federal government, which owns about 30 percent of our nation’s forests,” Joseph said March 3 on the AFRC website.
According to its website, AFRC is a regional trade association advocating for sustained timber harvests on public lands throughout the West to enhance forest health and resistance to fire, insects, and disease.
“Our federal forests have been mismanaged for decades,“ Joseph said. ”Americans have paid the price in almost every way. Lost jobs, lost manufacturing, and infrastructure. Lost recreational opportunities like hunting and fishing, and access to our lands. Degraded wildlife populations, water, and air. Landscapes and communities devastated by wildfire.
“Our federal forests are facing an emergency. It’s time to start treating it like one by taking immediate action,” Joseph said.
National Security Concerns
Trump said in his order deregulating the timber industry that boosting lumber production would “protect our national and economic security.”
The abundance of American timber is “more than adequate” to meet the nation’s needs, he said.
Trump blamed what he called “heavy-handed federal policies” for preventing the full utilization of America’s timber resources and for making us “reliant on foreign producers.”
“It is vital that we reverse these policies,” the president said.
In his order on national security implications, Trump said the country “faces significant vulnerabilities in the wood supply chain from imported timber, lumber, and their derivative products being dumped onto the [domestic] market.”
“The wood products industry, composed of timber, lumber, and their derivative products (such as paper products, furniture, and cabinetry) is a critical manufacturing industry essential to the national security, economic strength, and industrial resilience of the United States,” the order read. “This industry plays a vital role in key downstream civilian industries, including construction.”
According to the order, each year, the United States military spends over $10 billion on construction. “The procurement of these building materials depends on a strong domestic lumber industry and a manufacturing base capable of meeting both military-specific and wider civilian needs.”
Trump ordered Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber, and their derivative products. Lutnick is also tasked with determining the ability of domestic production to meet demand.
Lutnick must also determine the effect of foreign exporters on the U.S. timber and lumber market, and the impact of foreign government subsidies and predatory trade practices on U.S. companies.
The commerce chief must also evaluate trade policies to see if quotas and tariffs may be necessary to protect national security, and to consult with the secretary of defense to evaluate the risks associated with timber and lumber imports.
Immediate Actions
Trump’s first order calls on agencies to eliminate “all undue delays within their respective permitting processes related to timber production.”
Trump ordered Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the director of the Bureau of Land Management, as well as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and the head of the U.S. Forest Service, to issue guidance within 30 days on how to increase timber production, reduce delivery time, decrease supply uncertainty, and promote sound forest management.
Within 60 days, Burgum and the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with Lutnick and the assistant administrator for fisheries, have been ordered to complete a plan for speeding the approval of projects impacted by the Endangered Species Act.
Burgum, as chair of the Endangered Species Committee, is mandated to ensure a prompt review of all submissions to the committee and to resolve applications for exemptions before the deadlines set by the Endangered Species Act.