Act now to defend our national forests from reckless logging!

On March 1st, 2025, the White House issued two executive orders (EOs) calling for the “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production” and “Addressing the Threat to National Security from Imports of Timber, Lumber“—a reckless move that will fast-track logging, gut environmental protections, and strip communities of their say in public land management.

National security and economic security are the primary frames of the executive orders. The EOs assert that our nation’s reliance on imported timber, lumber, and other wood products is a problem. They assert that we can solve that problem only by increasing timber production from our federal lands. And they intend to facilitate this increase by targeting our nation’s bedrock environmental protections.

Specifically, these EOs aim to:

• Increase clear-cutting and logging in sensitive areas, harming biodiversity and watershed health
• Bypass key environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
• Disregard Indigenous sovereignty and sideline Tribal Nations from land management decisions
• Exacerbate wildfire risks by prioritizing commercial logging over science-backed fire resilience strategies

If these EOs stand unchallenged, their impacts will be immediate and far-reaching. Increasing timber production at the scale they propose will magnify the threats our forests already face from ecologically destructive logging projects, increase the risk and severity of wildfire, poison our water supply, and enrich timber industry executives at the expense of our local economies and communities. This is the false promise of trickle-down timbernomics: corporate profits go up while everyone else pays the cost.

Make no mistake: these EOs are not only a full-blown assault on public lands. They are but one step in this administration’s broader mission to prop up corporate interests, privatize public lands, concentrate power in the executive branch while limiting public oversight, and strip our communities and lands of the environmental protections guaranteed by law. 

Where Things Stand Now

In response to these timber EOs, On April 3, USDA Secretary Rollins issued a Secretarial Memo called “Increasing Timber Production and Designating an Emergency Situation on National Forest System Lands.” The memorandum asserts that:

• Federal policies are barriers to domestic timber supply.
• Reliance on foreign timber producers is a threat to national and economic security.
• National Forests are in crisis due to uncharacteristically severe wildfires, insect and disease outbreaks, and invasive species.
• Lack of sufficient active management is making this crisis worse.

This memo was followed up on the same day by a memo from Acting Associate Chief, Chris French, which provided regional direction for implementation of the Secretary’s memo. Specifically, it calls for:

• All Regional Foresters to develop 5-year strategies to increase their timber volume offered, leading to an agencywide increase of 25% over the next 4-5 years.
• All Regional Foresters to establish 2 years’ worth of “shelf stock” of timber volume
• The use of existing and new categorical exclusions to fast-track timber projects to the maximum extent possible under the law.

Take Action!

We are not powerless. By speaking out together against this EO, we can send a strong message to this administration that we won’t take this lying down. Here’s how you can take action today:

• Call or write your federal representatives—Tell them you want to see them doing more to push back against this reckless policy. Use the talking points in this action alert for guidance.
• Call your state representatives and urge them to draft and pass an Oregon Environmental Policy Act to safeguard our forests and communities from federal overreach.
• Demand action from the Oregon Attorney General—Tell them to take legal action against this EO.
• Be the boots on the ground—Join us in the field to learn how to groundtruth timber projects, expose industry greenwashing, and hold decision-makers accountable. The more eyes we have on the ground, the harder it is for destructive logging to go unchecked.
• Spread the word—Tell at least three people about this EO and ask them to take action with you.

Take action today and keep the pressure on.