The Trump administration wants to increase timber harvesting in the more than 100 million acres of national forests and is targeting Ohio's only national forest as part of the effort.
Ohio is home to one national forest, the Wayne National Forest, at nearly 244,000 acres with three non-contiguous tracts near Athens, Marietta and Ironton. The Wayne is teeming with life this time of year with thousands of species of plant life and dozens of mammals, birds and fish calling the quarter of a million acres of forest home.
President Donald Trump wants to expand American timber production in the nation’s national forests by 25%. A March executive order said cutting more trees will boost the construction and energy industries and also improve forest management to reduce wildfire risk.
That order has been supplemented by a memo by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, promising to execute Trump's vision for timber production. Rollins outlines her department's efforts in more details and identifies the Wayne as some of the more than 100 million acres of National Forestry System lands put under “Emergency Situation Determination."
The memo says this designation "will empower the U.S. Forest Service to expedite work on the ground and carry out authorized emergency actions to reduce wildfire risk and save American lives and communities."
"Healthy forests require work, and right now, we’re facing a national forest emergency. We have an abundance of timber at high risk of wildfires in our National Forests,” Rollins said in an April press release. “I am proud to follow the bold leadership of President Trump by empowering forest managers to reduce constraints and minimize the risks of fire, insects and disease so that we can strengthen American timber industry and further enrich our forests with the resources they need to thrive.”
Essentially what Rollins and the USDA are doing is meeting Trump's goal by simplifying permitting processes and bypassing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes. The USDA is also reducing what it calls implementation and contracting burdens.
More than 80% of the Wayne forest is classified as suitable for logging, meaning much of the forest could be on track for logging projects under the Trump administration.
Timber production in the Wayne National Forest has lagged in recent years
Molly Jo Stanley is the Southeast Ohio Regional Director with the Ohio Environmental Council. Stanley said the council recognizes timber production is important for the health of national forests, if it is done thoughtfully.
“This increased timber production is concerning in the sense of how much — how rapidly — in that this is not the first time that the administration has raised timber targets significantly beyond their historic levels," Stanley said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture didn't provide a source to speak on the topic, but did answer some questions about the plan for timber production in the Wayne.
A USDA spokesperson said records from the Wayne, dating as far back as 1980, show timber production in the forest has dropped by more than half since then. In 1980, the forest produced about 11 million board feet of lumber, compared to just 3.5 million board feet last year.
That’s a drop in the bucket – about than 0.01% -- of the 35 billion board feet of lumber the U.S. produced last year.
Stanley said forests like the Wayne are important to preserve because the land is still recovering from coal mining extraction that happened between 1800 and 1940.
The U.S. government purchased the land in 1935 in part to help the environment recover from the clear-cutting of forests that made way for coal mining. Much of the rest of Ohio's forests were lost to development and agriculture.
“The state lost all but 12% of our forest cover," Stanley said. "And since then it's incredible to see the comeback of our forests, but we know they still have a long way to go.”
Logging industry could benefit from more timber
The Trump administration hopes the executive order will jumpstart the nation’s lumber industry. Some in the industry are skeptical of how much this could help in the long run.
Sunny Fund N.A. CEO Joseph Sankow runs his Virginia-based lumber wholesaler from a solid wood desk in south Columbus when he's in town. The company gets most of its product from private land, but does occasionally buy its premium veneer logs from state parks and national forests like the Allegheny and Monongahela National Forests in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia.
Sankow said less production from national forests has put pressure on private landowners, effectively driving up demand and price for companies like his. He said it is also hurting lumber mills, like the Pixelle plant that announced it would close down earlier this year.
"There needs to be some kind of a level of hope for the mills so that they can get back in and know that somebody's supporting them," Sankow said. "Nobody's supporting the industry right now. The government's not. The customers are running the other way.”
Sankow said increasing timber production will be great for lumber mills, but may not help his company much. But Sankow said other factors have hurt the industry.
Sankow says trade wars and resulting tariffs from China have hurt export in the industry. High interest rates have slowed home building which most lumber goes towards domestically.
Unlike his wooden desk, Sankow said home builders and furniture companies are using cheaper replacement materials. That's what he says hurts lumber companies the most.
“If (Sunny Fund) is buying something, it's always well-made, it always good solid wood and all that. But there's not a lot of bigger producers that will take truckload after truckload after truckload of lumber that's being produced," Sankow said.
Wildfire risk low in the Wayne National Forest
Trump's executive order also seeks to lessen wildfire risks in America’s national forests, especially in the American west, where the climate is more dry and forests tend to be more prone to dangerous fires.
Last year, at least eight wildfires popped up in the Wayne National Forest during one of the worst recorded droughts in Ohio history.
The U.S. Forestry Service said in a Facebook post that the fires didn’t spread far and were promptly put out. The largest grew to 9 acres.
Stanley, with the Ohio Environmental Council, disagrees with the Trump Administration about wildfires. Stanley said the occasional controlled fire and prescribed burns can actually help the forest.
"The Wayne National Forest actually suffers from a lack of wildfires," Stanley said. "We're not really at threat of wild fire. We're at threat of losing the biodiversity that we have in these forests, and these large timbering operations really aren't the best technique for protecting our forests from invasive species and wildfires."
Stanley said the council doubts the Trump administration wants to improve forest health because of its opposition and efforts to circumvent conservation and environmental laws.
Stanley also said if cutting more trees is done too quickly and irresponsibly, it could hurt habitats for native plants and animals.
“Is this about forest health or is this about just increasing timber volume? And while economics are important, one thing to consider in Ohio is how little public land we have," Stanley said.
The USDA said it expects to release a national plan for timber production in the coming weeks. The U.S. Forestry Service regions will develop a 5-year strategy for timber after that.
