Protect Our National Forests from Unregulated Logging

The Trump administration has issued an executive order that directs the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service to act quickly to increase domestic timber production across 280 million acres of national forests and public lands under their collective management. The order also instructs agencies to bypass environmental laws and regulations that are meant to ensure that all use of public lands, including logging, are done sustainably.

Appropriate forest management is crucial for wildfire prevention, clean water and air, carbon capture, and wildlife, including the preservation of endangered species. The Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act both require a careful and good faith effort to consider the environmental impact of forest projects, even in the context of an emergency.

This unregulated expansion of logging not only risks the longterm viability of our public lands, but allowing it to proceed without adequately assessing its impact on air quality, water quality, and wildfire risk also compromises public safety. Congress must hold the Trump administration accountable to current environmental law and oppose this effort to undermine the protections that work to preserve our public lands and the safety of every American.