Loggers say Roadless Rule repeal won't solve their biggest challenges
The Trump administration's plan to repeal the Roadless Rule to boost timber production is facing skepticism from industry leaders. Loggers argue that broader economic issues like inflation and high fuel costs are more significant obstacles to their business than land access.
Why it matters
It highlights the disconnect between federal deregulation policies and the practical economic realities faced by the timber industry.
EUGENE, Ore. - President Trump is widely expected to soon open up some 44 million acres of the country's last pristine national forests in a move he says will bring timber jobs back to struggling small towns and help prevent wildfires in overgrown lands.
Trump signaled the move with executive actions last year aimed at dramatically boosting timber sales on U.S. Forest Service land and reversing the agency's 25-year-old Roadless Rule, which blocked most new logging on undeveloped national forestlands.
Today with the formal repeal of the Roadless Rule rule expected early next year, the picture on the ground in timber country looks messier. Those who make a living in the forests say the problems are much bigger than access to more trees.
"I'm not saying these EOs [Executive Orders] are useless, they set the tone," says Sean Smith, CEO of the family owned Starfire Lumber in Cottage Grove, Ore.
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