President Donald Trump issued executive orders March 1 to immediately expand U.S. timber production and address wood products imports.

“The United States has an abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs, but heavy-handed Federal policies have prevented full utilization of these resources and made us reliant on foreign producers,” the timber expansion order stated.

According to the White House, the inability to fully exploit domestic timber supplies has impeded job creation, contributed to wildfire disasters, degraded fish and wildlife habitats, increased the cost of construction and energy, and threatened the nation’s economic security.

Expansion order details

The expansion order directs federal agencies to take action to increase timber supplies and reduce regulatory barriers.

That could include steps to make permitting faster such as exclusions to the National Environmental Policy Act and streamlining the Endangered Species Act.

Officials will submit targets for annual timber sales offered from federal lands over the next four years.

National security order

The second order directs the Secretary of Commerce to determine whether imports of wood products threaten national security.

A report will detail recommendations on curbing such threats, including tariffs, export controls and incentives to increase domestic production.

The report also will recommend policies to boost the U.S. timber and lumber supply chain through strategic investments and permitting reforms.

Reaction

Industry groups praised the executive orders, calling them long-overdue steps toward healthy forests, wildfire mitigation and economic revitalization.

“These executive orders state the obvious but provide the clarity and leadership past administrations have failed to say out loud and prioritize: America’s wood products should come from America,” said Travis Joseph, American Forest Resource Council president, in a news release.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little directed state agencies to further help reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health through more active management on federal lands.

“The Trump administration is enacting common sense forest management policy changes that reflect Idaho values,” Little said, in a news release.

Environmental groups including the Sierra Club blasted the orders, saying they’ll destroy critical wildlife habitat, and increased pollution and fire risk.

“This is a particularly horrific move by Trump to loot our public lands by handing the keys to the kingdom over to big business,” said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director for the Center for Biological Diversity, in a news release.

John Bailey, an Oregon State University professor and author of “A Walk with Wildland Fire,” said that increasing the pace and scale of timber harvests and fuels treatments will be beneficial.

“We don’t want to completely sidestep all the processes that society has put in place over the decades and decades of policy development. But where we can streamline it, that’s fine,” Bailey said.

He added that NEPA wasn’t written with prescribed burns or thinning in mind, and not every forest activity should be challengable or go through the approval process.

Daniel Leavell, an OSU College of Forestry associate professor of practice, hoped a holistic approach toward forests would optimize all their attributes — industry, biodiversity and endangered species protections — without maximizing any one.

“They can do it all if they do it right,” he added.

USDA fuel breaks

The executive orders came three days after the USDA announced a $75 million public-private partnership with Sierra Pacific Industries to create fuel breaks on national forests in Oregon and California.

“By strategically linking fuel breaks across both public and private lands, we can maximize their effectiveness in reducing wildfire risk,” said Sierra Pacific Industries CEO Mark Emmerson, in a news release.

Leavell said fuel breaks work under certain conditions, and fuel reduction is needed in forests and shrublands.

But he cautioned there isn’t a one-size fits all fix.