Industry Seeks Forest ‘Emergency Order’

Officials with the American Loggers Council (ALC) recently reported that after a mid February meeting with administration officials, President Trump announced an intent to sign an emergency order to “Free Up Our Forests” for active management and domestic lumber production. In mid February ALC personnel and members of the American Biomass Energy Assn. met with White House officials to discuss the role of the timber industry and biomass in boosting the economy and promoting thinning projects that reduce wildfire risk while generating renewable biomass. With the change in administrations, a big priority for the forest and clean energy industries is to develop a policy framework around pubic lands management to boost forest health project implementation. Groups such as ALC and others are seeking consistent procedures and policies that allow public land management activities to occur. This in turn provides businesses some measure of certainty when making investments that depend in large part on resource availability.