Nearly 60 Million Acres Opened for Timber Production

As part of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut back environmental regulations, restrictions have been lifted on 30 percent of U.S. national forests.

The rescinding of the 2001 Roadless Rule will remove restrictions on timber harvesting, road construction and reconstruction on close to 59 million acres of the National Forest System, according to an announcement in June by Secretary of Agriculture Brook L. Rollins.

Citing fire prevention and “responsible timber production,” Rollins said, “This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation’s forests. It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires and allows future generations of Americans to enjoy and reap the benefits of this great land.”

According to press reports, the agriculture department estimates that 30 percent of National Forest System lands is affected by this rule. It said that nearly 60 percent of forest service land in Utah is restricted from road development while in Montana, it’s 58 percent. In Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest in the country, 92 percent of the land is affected.

Pushback from environmental groups, as expected, was swift and strident. “The Trump administration’s disdain for nature knows no bounds,” Randy Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, told the New York Times. “The roadless rule is one of our country’s most important conservation achievements, and we’ll fight like hell to keep these protections in place.”

Chris Wood, the chief executive of Trout Unlimited, an environmental group, who advised the Forest Service, told the Times “I don’t think the timber industry wants to get into these areas. They’re wildly controversial, and they’re too expensive to access. I believe when they take this to rule making, they will realize how wildly unpopular getting rid of that rule is and how little gain there is to be had from it.”

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