March 7, 2025 HFHC News Round Up
Fix Our Forests bill appears to gain momentum (Axios Pro)
The House-passed forest management bill increasingly looks as if it has a path to becoming law. Why it matters: Backers have framed the Fix Our Forests Act as a way to respond to the devastating California wildfires by speeding up management activities and creating programs to mitigate wildland blazes. State of play: A Senate Agriculture subcommittee held a hearing on the legislation Thursday morning. House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman, the lead sponsor with Rep. Scott Peters, predicted the bill is “bipartisan enough that it could get out of the committee and get on the Senate floor” as a standalone measure (it got 55 Dem votes in the House). “There’s senators on both sides of the aisle that have been working on the language over here,” he said. (Subscriptions Required)
New forest chief prioritizes timber, recreation and wildfire prevention amid mass firings (WPR)
The new head of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) highlighted logging, wildfire prevention and recreation as his focus for the agency going forward. This comes after recent mass firings. Tom Schulz wrote an introduction letter to employees March 4. “I recognize that I am the first Chief who did not come from or previously work within the agency, but I hope you will see that as I do—as a strength,” Schultz said, highlighting his 25 years of land management, which includes timber and mineral extraction directive roles in Idaho. Schultz’s appointment comes after abrupt firings of thousands of USFS workers across the country, including Wyoming. Many of those let go were qualified to fight fires, help with fire suppression and maintain recreation trails. Former Forest Chief Randy Moore stepped down a week ago, saying he had no control over the firings and was concerned for the future of the agency.
USDA secretary addresses staff cuts, pledges support to WNC amid high-risk wildfire season (ABC 13)
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins visited Asheville Thursday to survey fire and Helene damage with U.S. Forest Service members and local EMS staff. Rollins held a brief news conference before doing a private roundtable at the Asheville Forest Service Office. “Here in North Carolina with all the devastation under Hurricane Helene, which is causing a little bit of more potential for some significantly damaging fires, I wanted to come to see it myself,” said Rollins. Rollins was asked about the thousands of recently fired United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) workers.
Forest Service braces for up to 7,000 layoffs (Greenwire)
The Forest Service plans to shed as many as 7,000 additional employees in the coming months through force reductions and early retirements, with a heavy toll on research that supports healthier forests, according to two agency employees and others familiar with the Trump administration’s thinking. The mass departures — more than double the number terminated in the recent firings of probationary employees, if realized — would affect a wide range of missions as the administration looks to shift the agency’s decision-making away from Washington and toward local offices. The Forest Service had around 30,000 total employees prior to this year’s reductions…The projections are part of the Forest Service’s personnel-cutting plans due for submission to the White House by March 13, a deadline other agencies face as well. They reflect twin objectives of making the forest agency smaller and realigning policies to be more in tune with the new administration. (Subscriptions Required)
Trump’s Canadian tariffs include lumber. He is pushing to cut down American trees instead. (CNN)
The US relies heavily on Canada for its lumber. Last year 23.6% of the lumber consumed in the US was shipped in from its northern neighbor, according to Forest Economic Advisors. Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary, said Trump’s executive order addresses “the national security threat posed by an overreliance on foreign timber and lumber, while simultaneously increasing America’s lumber supply at home.” She referred to multiple organizations that have released statements of support about opening up federal land for logging, including the American Loggers Council, the American Forest Resource Council and the Forest Landowners Association. Increasing logging on federal lands would increase the supply of logs for US industry, said Rocky Goodnow, vice president of North American Timber Service at Forest Economic Advisors. But it won’t replace Canadian imports in the near term, he told CNN.
Timber production Executive Orders could impact Southern Oregon Forests (KOBI)
We are learning more tonight about the potential local impacts of another set of Executive Orders from President Trump. This time directed at American timber production. Over the weekend the White House put out multiple Executive Orders aimed at ramping up domestic production of lumber and other wood products. One focused on the national security aspects of importing those products from other countries, while the other directs federal land management agencies like BLM and the Forest Service to provide guidance on ways to increase logging operations on publicly-owned lands. Nick Smith with the Portland-based American Forest Resource Council says the orders signal a desire to use forest management as a means of reducing wildfire risk. “There’s been a movement for a while that we shouldn’t be touching public lands at all, and what has that gotten us?” Smith says. “It’s gotten us more wildfire, more smoke, certainly the social-economic impacts that we’ve seen over the decades in our timber communities.”
Trump’s timber directives could sway Oregon forest policy, but market effects remain unclear (OPB)
Republican-led policy directives could rewrite forest policies that affect public lands in Oregon and the rest of the West. New executive orders from the Trump administration last weekend call on federal agencies to fast-track logging projects by circumventing endangered species laws, and to investigate whether lumber imports threaten national security. These directives could influence separate logging policies that are currently in the works. Among those prospective policies is the Fix Our Forests Act, which is set for hearing in the U.S. Senate on Thursday. The bill would allow agencies to fast-track logging projects that are intended to reduce wildfire fuels.
Lands commissioner plans to keep working with feds (HeraldNet)
Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove said recent executive orders by President Donald Trump aimed at boosting logging in federal lands won’t drastically change his agency’s positive relationship with federal land agencies. Since 2017, under Washington’s Good Neighbor Authority agreement, the state’s Department of Natural Resources has worked on projects with federal agencies in every Washington national forest except Umatilla. The Good Neighbor Authority agreement allows the state to hire local companies to work on watershed, range land and forest restoration projects with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
Lethal Smoke (UCLA)
Smoke produced by California wildfires kills far more people than flames do, according to research from UCLA. From 2008 to 2018, more than 52,000 premature deaths have been linked to exposure to the smoke’s toxic particles, says Rachel Connolly of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, lead author of the study published in the journal Science Advances. Connolly conducted the research with senior author Michael Jerrett, an expert in environmental health science at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Bentz suggests fired Forest Service workers could be rehired (Bend Bulletin)
Last month at least 40 probational workers employed by the Deschutes and Ochoco national forests were fired during an aggressive campaign by the Trump administration to cut costs. Now U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Republican who represents Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District, says some of those fired workers should be allowed to make their case to return to their jobs. He wants to know if any of the fired workers had jobs that ensured public safety. “We have been watching that process evolve, is probably the right word,” said Bentz. “For example, with Bonneville Power Administration, there were 30 or 40 people hired back when it was pointed out that their jobs were extremely important and sensitive, and they needed to be rehired, and they were rehired,” Bentz said. “We’re not enthusiastic about putting (the public) at risk.”
Executive Order to Expand Timber Production Could Boost West Virginia’s Forestry Industry (WV News)
A new federal initiative aimed at increasing American timber production could significantly impact West Virginia’s forestry sector, which already contributes over $3.2 billion annually to the state’s economy. The “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production” executive order seeks to streamline forest management, reduce regulations, and boost domestic logging, creating more opportunities for businesses and workers across the Mountain State. With vast hardwood forests and a well-established timber infrastructure, West Virginia supports more than 30,000 jobs in logging, sawmills, and wood product manufacturing. The executive order is expected to attract new investments, expanding job opportunities in key counties across the state.
Cheyenne Lawyer, Rancher Karen Budd-Falen Accepts Top Interior Department Post (Cowboy State Daily)
Karen Budd-Falen, a Cheyenne lawyer and rancher, is headed back to the nation’s capital, taking a high-level Interior Department job in President Donald Trump’s administration, she told Cowboy State Daily in a phone interview Monday. The Interior Department has not announced the appointment, and a media representative said the department had no comment. Budd-Falen, a lawyer and rancher, worked in Trump’s first administration as deputy solicitor for wildlife and parks at Interior.
It’s Time to Reform the Endangered Species Act (NRR Press)
House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) introduced the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Amendments Act of 2025 to make critical reforms to the ESA. Westerman issued the following statement in response: “The Endangered Species Act has consistently failed to achieve its intended goals and has been warped by decades of radical environmental litigation into a weapon instead of a tool. With the reforms we are introducing today, we can look forward to a future where the ESA works to support the continued abundance of America’s rich and diverse wildlife.”
The U.S. Forest Service’s “rule by fiat” clearcuts Alaskan timber livelihoods and the rule of law (Pacific Legal Foundation)
The productive use of natural resources makes the lives of every American better. Timber harvested in Alaska is used to make everything from neighborhood fences to Steinway pianos. Government shouldn’t stand in the way. The U.S. Forest and Wildlife Service cannot ignore Congress’ clear instructions by pursuing an environmental agenda Congress never authorized.
Who owns the land? (Deseret)
On a bluebird spring day a few years back, Boone Taylor gathered his cattle from a grazing parcel he leases from the federal government. He rode his red roan, Navajo, through the “Sandy 3” allotment, which crosses through Bitter Creek in Capitol Reef National Park. From the creek bed, the striations of yellow-beige earth get steadily darker as they rise up the canyon walls. Taylor’s horse, chaps, work coat and cowboy hat were all roughly the same hue as the ombre landscape. His cattle made their way to the east slope of Boulder Mountain, where they spent the summer grazing on U.S. Forest Service land.
The Case for Returning U.S. Public Lands to Indigenous People (Time)
Since the start of Trump’s second term, his administration has fired thousands of federal workers across multiple public lands agencies, including the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The effects of this are vast: It’s going to have a profoundly negative impact on the environment and the way millions of Americans enjoy public lands, cause immeasurable harm to America’s wildest places, and devastate the economies built around them.
Schools lawyer: state forestry using general fund to replace timber revenue (Oregon Roundup)
An attorney representing a rural Oregon school district accused the Oregon Department of Forestry of using emergency funds approved last year by the legislature to pay bills arising from 2024’s record fire year to backfill general agency expenses and surreptitiously fund operations that should be funded by timber harvest revenues, according to a February letter obtained by Oregon Roundup. In his three-page (without attachments) February 20 letter to the lobbyist for the Association of Oregon Counties, Portland lawyer John DiLorenzo accused the Oregon Department of Forestry of using a portion of the extra $191.5 million given it by the legislature last year to refill a fund depleted to pay not only firefighting costs but also operating costs of ODF.
Logging, Lawsuits, and Lost Revenue: The Fight Over Oregon’s State Forests (Javadi)
Let’s start by imagining you’re a county official in the early 1900s, sitting behind a creaky wooden desk, surrounded by ledgers so grim they could double as Edgar Allan Poe manuscripts. You’ve just inherited acres of tree stumps—forests that were once lush but have now been logged into oblivion by a bankrupt timber company. Taxes? Unpaid. Prospects? Looking dim. Then, the State of Oregon strolls in, flashing a deal: “Hand over these cut-over lands, we’ll fix them up into real forests again, and you’ll get a cut of the timber revenue once they’re producing.” It sounded like a win-win, a bit like trading a busted jalopy for a vow that someday you’d get a sleek new car.
Wildfire-fighting nonprofits at risk as federal grants vanish (Climatewire)
Efforts to limit wildfires in a conservative swath of northern Colorado are the latest casualty of the Trump administration’s on-and-off federal spending freeze. The Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed won several million dollars in grants during the Biden administration to help reduce the intensity and likelihood of wildfires and modernize water distribution in the 1.2 million acre watershed. But now the nonprofit is among hundreds around the country in limbo as federal payments stop and start during President Donald Trump’s haphazard efforts to shrink the federal government. “If the money comes back, I’m afraid to spend anything,” said Hally Strevey, the coalition’s executive director. (Subscription Required)
Governor Little responds to concerns of fire management staffing (The Arbiter)
Believe me, the firefighters are going to be there,” Idaho Governor Brad Little told a crowd of reporters at a Feb. 25 press conference in response to a question about federal government layoffs including Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service workers involved with firefighting. Melissa Davlin, a producer at Idaho Public Television and the president of the Idaho Press Club, posed the question. Little claimed that while some issues are “around the fringe, around the edges that are probably going to be looked at,” the public safety aspect of firefighting is going to be fine.
Escalating wildfire threat in West needs bipartisan response (Gazette Journal)
Fighting wildfires in Nevada gave me a firsthand understanding of how these disasters have grown more intense and frequent over the past several years. The 2018 Martin and Sugarloaf fires alone scorched nearly 1 million acres in northeast Nevada, marking a devastating chapter in our state’s history. Then, in 2021, the Caldor Fire burned over 220,000 acres, crossing state lines and threatening numerous communities, including the crown jewel of Northern Nevada: Lake Tahoe. These events have become alarmingly common, stretching our resources thin and testing our resilience.
Forestry expert discusses density management in Winchester (Roseburg News-Review)
The Healthy Forest Advisory Committee and Umpqua Community College’s Forestry Club partnered to bring James Johnston to Winchester to present his extensive research on how density management can improve stand health. Johnston is an assistant research professor in the Institute for Resilient Organizations, Communities, and Environments at the University of Oregon. He is also an assistant professor at the College of Forestry at Oregon State University. He said Mark Buckbee, who is on the advisory committee, invited him to present with a list of questions—each of which could have been its own presentation.
Hospital of wood (The Times)
Hospitals are typically framed by steel and walled in concrete. The new Picton hospital will instead be made of wood—a mass timber structure, wood floor panels and wood detailing. It is a method of building that fell out of fashion with the advent of steel and concrete. In the intervening decades, we’ve learned that these materials put an undue burden on the environment and the air we breathe. Ultimately, a structure made of wood is renewable and the source product will grow back.
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