Executive Order Seeks to Accelerate Widespread Logging in Federal Forests
WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump signed an executive order aimed at weakening environmental protections to make widespread commercial logging the guiding purpose of federal forest management.
The following is a statement from Garett Rose, senior attorney at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“Another day, another massive giveaway to industry at the expense of our planet. The administration could have directed the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to develop community-oriented wildfire policies that actually protect people. It could have listened to the science that older trees have unparalleled ecological value and are often best able to withstand wildfire. It could have directed the agencies to manage federal forests to support theirits myriad clean air, clean water, and recreational benefits.”
“Instead, the administration is recklessly cutting thousands of federal jobs and directing an understaffed, under-resourced agency to supercharge destructive logging. This policy will divert resources from defending communities against wildfire impacts. It will quickly corrode the pollution-fighting capabilities of the nation’s federal forests. It will weaken our economic security by depleting irreplaceable ecosystem services, further exposing us to the volatility of the climate and biodiversity crises. It will undermine the United States in a global marketplace that increasingly demands sustainably sourced wood. And it will do all this so it can feed the public’s forests to industry’s chainsaws.”
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).