WILD EARTH GUARDIANS • April 17, 2024
The United States Forest Service manages 193 million acres of national forests. These forests provide habitat to thousands of wildlife species (including threatened and endangered species), and offer recreational and mental wellness benefits to millions of Americans. It’s hard to overstate just how important our national forests are to our lives. Yet a recent Forest Service report to Congress provides a blueprint of how the agency could increase logging to meet arbitrary, non-science based timber production goals. The mechanisms proposed by the Forest Service to meet these “Timber Targets” include cutting public involvement in decision-making and oversight of agency action, to make it easier to cut more trees, including from forests that are key to combating climate change.