Four retired Forest Service chiefs from Republican and Democratic administrations urged the Agriculture Department to abandon a plan to open roadless areas of national forests to potential logging.
In public comments submitted to the USDA on Monday, retired chiefs Vicki Christiansen, Tom Tidwell, Mike Dombeck and Dale Bosworth said the Trump administration should retain the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule while considering whether adjustments are needed.
Among other issues, the retired officials — all of whom oversaw the rule in practice — questioned the administration’s view that the restrictions should be lifted in part to help boost timber production, a goal President Donald Trump has directed through executive orders.
Harvesting timber on federal land, once a fiscal engine for the Forest Service, has plummeted since the heyday of the late 1980s, and much of the prime land has already been gone over.
