President Donald Trump has removed environmental protections covering more than half of the land managed by the U.S. Forest Service under an emergency designation announced April 4.
The move aims to bolster the U.S. logging industry and combat wildfire, according to the memo from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. It comes a month after the president signed an executive order seeking to increase lumber production by 25%.
The emergency designation covers 176,000 square miles of forests, which amounts to 59% of Forest Service lands. Most of the forests were determined to be at a high risk of wildfires and in declining health from insects and disease.
The memo instructed the Forest Service to fast-track timber production by removing National Environmental Policy Act regulations, making it easier to obtain permits.
It exempts forests within the emergency designation from an objection process that allows local governments, tribes and environmental groups to challenge logging proposals before they are finalized.
