Timber Production Executive Order

[chanson_roland]

Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production

Further down in the EO:

Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall together submit to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, a plan that sets a target for the annual amount of timber per year to be offered for sale over the next 4 years from Federal lands managed by the BLM and the USFS, measured in millions of board feet.

 

[Gila]

Reads like the National Energy Emergency Executive Order. Seems to me that they are imposing unrealistic deadlines on regulatory bodies of various agencies that no longer have the staff (funding) to respond to those initiatives properly or timely. Is this by design or just a by-product of incompetence? I am not poised to understand the difference. I do know that Canada is number one wood exporter, followed by Germany, USA is third largest exporter. The other countries fall back quite a ways. This EO has impeccable timing in relationship to the Tariffs against Canada and Mexico.

Most of Canada’s wood products go to the USA and Western Europe. Much of the US export is Canada and Mexico. I don’t know anything about logging other than it has and will affect the Salmon runs. In which ways I do not know. The PFMC which used to be an arm of NOAA -Commerce Dept. manages the Salmon in the Northwest, not sure about Alaska. But i do know that the Salmon Management plan has been around a long time and the PFMC does have a say (or used to) in logging operations.

“(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Secretary of Commerce, through the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, shall complete a strategy on USFS and BLM forest management projects under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (16 U.S.C. 1536) to improve the speed of approving forestry projects. The Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the FWS, shall also examine any applicable existing authorities that would permit executive departments and agencies (agencies) to delegate consultation requirements under section 7 of the ESA to other agencies and, if necessary, provide a legislative proposal to ensure consultation is streamlined.”

 

[Pony Soldier]

Politics has no place in timber management.

 

[matchu865]

I feel like timber management is only about politics. Some people like 'untouched' old growth ecosystems, others want to maximize short term ROI by cutting them, some people want lands managed as tree farms cut every X or Y years or when timber prices are high, some people want larger buffers around streams. It's all politics.

Personally, I'd like all the federal timber lands managed for optimal deer/elk hunting, but one can dream, right?

 

[Gila]

I feel like timber management is only about politics. Some people like 'untouched' old growth ecosystems, others want to maximize short term ROI by cutting them, some people want lands managed as tree farms cut every X or Y years or when timber prices are high, some people want larger buffers around streams. It's all politics.

Personally, I'd like all the federal timber lands managed for optimal deer/elk hunting, but one can dream, right?

Anyone who hunts, fishes or traps should be concerned about logging. It affects entire eco-systems. Steel head, Salmon and trout are very much affected by erosion and sediment in streams and rivers. It affects the plants that elk, mule deer, moose, bear etc…that provide food for these animals. But it goes from top to bottom of the food chain. It is scientific wild life management of public lands. Everyone should have concerns…

 

[CJ19]

you guys need to relax. not everything needs to be a sky is falling moment.

 

[IdahoBeav]

Politics has no place in timber management.

Hehe, it’s about 35 years too late for that. The rural western Oregon and Washington lower and middle class still haven’t been supported economically like they were by the timber industry.

Logging has been a green industry for decades, but zombie lies are effective at serving an agenda.

 

[MallardSX2]

Most of the national forests east of the Mississippi needed to be at a minimum select cut 30-40 years ago. Shame on the govt for allowing forests to get to the point that they have.

I hope they clear cut all the national forests around me.

 

[rogerdoger]

I used to be against a ton of logging. Once I moved to NW Montana it has changed my mind. Parts of the forest are completely overgrown and have little habitat for elk. I hope they approach it in a way that minimizes impact on surrounding waterways.

Every year the forest service does a study and puts up a plan to log areas only to be sued by local environmental groups, this puts everything on hold and no forest management happens.

If we keep shutting down any and all types of resource extraction it will push the agenda of selling public land even further.

 

[Ozarkansas]

Most of the national forests east of the Mississippi needed to be at a minimum select cut 30-40 years ago. Shame on the govt for allowing forests to get to the point that they have.

I hope they clear cut all the national forests around me.

In my area of the East, the issue is that the cuts often aren’t profitable, so contracts go unrewarded or at least go out to bid several times before they get takers. “The government” is pushing hard for thinning in this case, but the logging industry can’t support it as fast as it’s needed.

We probably need either government support for small timber mills or a massive increase in lumber prices to change that.

 

[Wrench]

A plan to set a target sounds like an attainable goal.

He didn't say drop 1 billion board feet this week.....he said, do your job.

 

[chanson_roland]

I used to be against a ton of logging. Once I moved to NW Montana it has changed my mind. Parts of the forest are completely overgrown and have little habitat for elk. I hope they approach it in a way that minimizes impact on surrounding waterways.

Every year the forest service does a study and puts up a plan to log areas only to be sued by local environmental groups, this puts everything on hold and no forest management happens.

If we keep shutting down any and all types of resource extraction it will push the agenda of selling public land even further.

Same here. I was somewhat against logging until we lived in Maine. Then I saw how it was the timber companies that did all the infrastructure development in large parts of Maine, cut the logging roads, and enabled hunter access.

In my opinion there needs to be enough incentive for natural resource companies to do that work. Also, I'd rather deal with a large timber investment company vs luxury home/ranch developers/owners when it comes to preserving access to public land.

Part of the reason I posted the link is that I think there *could* be an opportunity here to preserve/enhance public land access; hunters partnering with "Big Timber" to keep lands public since everyone benefits.

*Edited to Add*:

I also think "Big Timber" could help with the landlocked public land problem. If a TMO gets rights to develop landlocked public land, they would have the economic power and equipment to develop the access routes; hunters *might* be able to piggyback off of that to hunt places they'd otherwise need a helicopter to reach.

 

[Wrench]

Keep in mind that hunters are one of many forest users. There's a lot of deer and elk killed near cda within bow range of a motorcycle trail, a gun range. A SxS road, a fishing stream.....etc.

It's not a backcountry wilderness experience, but it's opportunity and we need to appreciate it.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Can we submit units for review?...I know a couple in WY where the deadfall is so ridiculous the elk don't even go in there anymore. I would also like to submit some areas in Mon NF. There a few places in the Mon NF with no doe season, WV has the highest rate of deer related automobile collisions, but because the NF is all old growth and the canopy blocks anything growing on the ground not great deer populations in areas the NF.

 

[go_deep]

In 2024, the U.S. Department of the Interior spent $4.79 billion on wildland fire suppression.

Pretty sure cutting a few more trees at a breaking even, or even a small loss sure won't hurt anything.

 

[Jason Snyder]

We probably need either government support for small timber mills or a massive increase in lumber prices to change that.

Pretty salient point. Many of the mills across the west are gone. Might be hard to get the timber sales into operation.

 

[MuleyFever]

... WV has the highest population of WT in the country...

Where do you get that info?

 

[go_deep]

Pretty salient point. Many of the mills across the west are gone. Might be hard to get the timber sales into operation.

Well, here's the real answer.
Small incinerator power plants, burn most of the wood.

True, real, green energy.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Well, here's the real answer.
Small incinerator power plants, burn most of the wood.

True, real, green energy.

And how many of those currently exist?

 

[go_deep]

And how many of those currently exist?

A few, but not many, mostly because the moment someone tries to build one they get sued and it goes to the never ending court case.

In most cases they're a true incinerator, wood primarily, but they'll burn trash too.