Washington, D.C. – Today, President Trump issued an executive order that seeks to ramp up logging across federal forests, including Los Padres National Forest. The order comes just days after a timber industry executive was appointed as the new Forest Service Chief, and after the administration announced the slashing of thousands of Forest Service scientists and other employees.
The order could expedite controversial logging projects on Pine Mountain and Mt. Pinos, which have faced widespread community opposition. It could also accelerate a massive 235,000 acre logging and vegetation clearing project covering many areas of Los Padres National Forest.
Trump’s order calls for an increase in timber production and encourages foresters to seek exemptions from laws that protect endangered species that rely on healthy, intact forest ecosystems for survival.
The order—titled Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production—directs forest and wildlife agencies to take the following actions:
- expedite increased timber production, including seeking loopholes through Congress
- “streamline” biologists’ review of logging projects so that they can be approved more rapidly, even if logging causes harm to endangered species
- increase the amount of “board feet” to be removed each year over the next four years
- exploit new loopholes called “categorical exclusions” to fast-track approval of projects without standard environmental review and public comment
- pause, weaken, or cancel any regulations or policies that impose an “undue burden” on timber production
- claim that an “emergency” exists so that logging projects can be approved more quickly, without the usual oversight
- examine ways to weaken the Endangered Species Act so that it does not hinder logging, including issuing exemptions to logging projects so that they don’t have to comply with the ESA at all.
The order repeats Trump’s assertion—without any factual or scientific basis—that logging can protect communities from wildfire, citing “recent disasters” like the tragic Los Angeles wildfires. Increased logging would not have protected these communities because the fires burned primarily in chaparral shrublands and urban areas, not forests.
Los Padres National Forest is dominated by chaparral and other shrubland ecosystems, but conifer forests do occur in some of the higher elevations, often as isolated pockets or “sky islands.” Today’s order will likely spur several controversial logging projects planned or in process for Los Padres National Forest, including tree removal on Pine Mountain and Mt. Pinos. Both projects are widely opposed by community organizations, scientists, local cities and counties, and elected officials.
“More logging will cause widespread devastation of our public forests locally and across the country,” said ForestWatch executive director Jeff Kuyper. “Trump’s order won’t protect us from wildfire, but it will most certainly line the pockets of timber industry executives, undermine science and environmental protection laws, and bring us one step closer to privatizing our public lands.”
Our federal forests belong to all of us and are required by law to be managed in ways that benefit all Americans. Left standing, mature trees and old-growth forests provide clean air and water, opportunities for recreation, habitat for wildlife, and help to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. Our biggest, oldest trees are also the most resilient to the impacts of wildfire, with their thick protective bark and higher canopies, serving as some of of our best – and most cost effective – natural climate solutions.
The order was issued just days after a timber industry executive was appointed as the new head of the U.S. Forest Service and as thousands of Forest Service employees lost their jobs as part of a mass firing by Elon Musk’s DOGE. Tom Schultz, a former timber executive at Idaho Forest Group—one of the largest logging companies in the country—now heads the agency. In his introductory statement to employees, Schultz vowed to increase timber sales and “active forest management”—a timber industry euphemism for logging. The timber industry applauded his appointment and praised his ability to bolster the domestic wood products industry.
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