Wisconsin may see more logging of national forest land under Trump order

President Donald Trump wants to ramp up timber production by fast-tracking projects under laws that protect endangered species and other environmental regulations, which could expand logging of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

Earlier this month, Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to issue guidance on increasing timber production and sound forest management. The order is intended to make the nation “more self-reliant” as Trump has imposed, and then paused, tariffs on Canada, the nation’s largest supplier of lumber. 

Trump has called on the secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior to adopt categorical exclusions that essentially exempt certain activities from detailed environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The president’s order also directs agencies to convene a committee under emergency regulations that could bypass endangered species protections to clear the way for logging projects.

Environmental groups like the Environmental Law & Policy Center argue that more logging would damage national forests and harm recreation, wildlife and water quality. Andy Olsen, the group’s senior policy advocate, said the order represents an ideology that led to clear cutting of Wisconsin forests more than 100 years ago.

“We should not return to the failed past. We should be moving forward and increasing environmental protections, increasing protection of the forest and increasing forest-friendly economic development like tourism,” Olsen said.

Olsen notes the proposal comes as the USDA’s Forest Service may cut as many as 7,000 federal workers, raising alarms over reduced oversight of logging.

A USDA spokesperson said it will continue to protect wildlife under the Endangered Species Act while meeting Trump’s directive “to provide the nation with abundant domestic timber, unhampered by burdensome, heavy-handed policies that neither ensure American economic security nor protection of natural resources.” 

It’s unclear to what extent the order may affect the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin.

Trump has called on leaders of multiple federal agencies to issue updated guidance by April on tools to ramp up timber production. Those tools may include the use of stewardship contracts and Good Neighbor Authority, or GNA, agreements.

Wisconsin signed a GNA agreement with the U.S. Forest Service in 2015 that authorized the state to assist with national forest management, including timber sales. Since 2015, the Department of Natural Resources said it’s conducted just shy of 200 timber sales spanning 32,000 acres under the agreement.

“Expanded timber production on the CNNF could lead to an increase in the amount of national forest timber sales available for the state to administer through our GNA agreement; however, it is uncertain how much additional volume beyond the current average of 25 million board feet annually the state would be capable of managing,” a DNR spokesperson said in an email.

The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is already one of the top timber-producing national forests in the country, said Ron Eckstein, co-chair of the public lands and forestry workgroup with Wisconsin’s Green Fire. The forest sold around 125 million board feet in fiscal year 2024.

“They’ve been able to get that timber produced while protecting wildlife habitat, biodiversity, [and] following the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal regulations,” Eckstein said.

The national forest and other federal forest land make up 9.4 percent of the state’s nearly 17 million acres of forest land. The forestry and logging sector directly employs around 4,400 of the 57,000 workers in Wisconsin’s nearly $27 billion forest products industry.

Logging advocates like Henry Schienebeck with the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association said stakeholders may have to take a closer look at demand and the capacity of mills to handle more lumber. Even so, he said the order represents a golden opportunity for the public to have healthy, well-managed forests.

“I think they’re doing a great job between the state and the Forest Service working together to get the forest managed because we were behind, way behind, and we’re still behind a little bit,” Schienebeck, the group’s executive director, said.

Prior to 2015, the Forest Service said it had struggled with managing timber sales in northern Wisconsin, and the agency has faced rising costs of fire suppression. Schienebeck pointed to wildfires in California as another reason why increased timber production would be a win for the country.

“Would people rather recreate in a healthy, clean forest? Or would they rather recreate in ashes and watch ashes run into streams and basically ruin water quality?” Schienebeck said.

Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s conservative policy roadmap, said increased timber sales could reduce wildfire risk. Trump has also blamed California wildfires on poor forest management as scientists insist climate change is behind extreme heat and drought driving wildfires.

The White House contends the order would reduce not only wildfire risks but also dependence on foreign goods as tariffs on Canada may resume next month.

Tariff actions create uncertainty, drive up building material costs

Most recent federal data from 2021 shows the nation imported nearly half of its forest products from Canada. That same year, Wisconsin imported more than $600 million of wood products, the most since 2009.

At the same time, Canada is the top importer of wood and paper products from Wisconsin, and the state exported more than $840 million worth of wood and paper products in 2022.

Troy Brown, president of Kretz Lumber, said it’s unclear what effects tariffs may have on the lumber industry as the situation is ever-evolving.

“Where we would be affected is if we have retaliatory tariffs, and that is where our product ends up being tariffed by the consuming country, and they have to then absorb a higher cost for our product,” Brown said.

The cost of building materials used for home construction are already rising as a result of the Trump administration’s tariffs, according to the Associated Press. Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods earlier this month, prompting Canada to tack on $21 billion in retaliatory tariffs.

The president later postponed some tariffs until April 2, including lumber. Even so, the National Association of Homebuilders estimates uncertainty over recent tariff actions have caused costs to rise to $9,200 per home.