President Donald Trump has laid out plans for expanding timber harvesting that could help offset the impact of tariffs on imports from Canada while also cutting wildfire risk. But that goal could be undermined by his government efficiency agenda.
The new administration’s funding freezes and firings of U.S. Forest Service employees are impeding efforts to prepare timber harvests on public lands, review logging contracts, and conduct the fieldwork needed to determine how many trees should be cut and where, according to interviews with five current and former agency officials.
“The administration is looking to increase the pace and scale with logging, and we need it: Our forests are overstocked,” said one Forest Service official who was granted anonymity to discuss the problems. “But the workforce that gets most of this work done is no longer with us. We don’t have the personnel to do this,” said the person, who works on timber harvests at a national forest in California that has lost more than 20 people and cannot hire for seasonal positions.
Trump’s executive orders and other policy directives during his first two months in office have repeatedly created tension between his efforts to radically reshape the federal government and advance his “America First” economic agenda. The resulting conflicts have created complications even for those who generally support his goals.
