As someone who worked in forestry and related fields over a 48 year working life, I can offer these observations. Forest management is always (a) complex, (b) political, especially when conducted on public land, and (c) is the only major industry that is carbon emissions positive, that is forest industries remove more CO2 from the atmosphere than they emit.
Forestry management sets up a series of dilemmas. Clearing natural forests to plant timber plantations has a negative ecological/environment impact but those plantations will provide a greater volume of timber per unit area, possibly easing pressure on natural forests.
Developed countries will protect large areas of their forests in national parks but timber consumers might increase the use of imported timber from natural forests in the developing world.
Converting state forests to national parks will protect them from the impacts of logging, but because public funds are always limited it may mean less resources to protect forests from wildfires, weed and animal pests.
I am now retired from paid forestry work but I couldnāt quit the game. I now have my own area of natural forest where I spend as much time as I can. I manage it for timber production, wildlife conservation, catchment protection, limited cattle grazing and honey production. I wonāt stop until I am put in a (sustainably sourced) wooden coffin.
So, I checked out the news for the forest targeted in PAāthe Allegheny National Forest. Apparently national forests are in ācrisisā (imagine me raising an eyebrow and using huge air quotes here) according to the current administration. While I have to get ready for work, so my reading is limited, it doesnāt sound like the Allegheny National Forest is in crisis and that the timbering off of cherry trees might be harmful to bats. Iāll have to read more, but count me highly suspicious of this endeavor. Iāve seen the results of fracking, coal mining, and timbering in PAānone of them have been good for the environment. We just refused to sell off mineral rights to fracking (which seems on the increase again too)āand we live in town. Anyway, thatās a side issue. Hereās the article:
https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/04/allegheny-national-forest-logging-emergency-declaration/
PS Thank you for the informative discussion.
Pretty sure theyāre being planted with a near monoculture of jack pine and Douglas fir, for timber. At least thatās what usually happens.
It seems to be one of the laws of forestry: never replant the same species as what grew there before. That would explain why I see so much loblolly pine all over a region that used to be renowned for longleaf pine ā and why there is Douglas-fir in the UK.
āIt seems to be one of the laws of forestry: never replant the same species as what grew there before. That would explain why I see so much loblolly pine all over a region that used to be renowned for longleaf pine ā and why there is Douglas-fir in the UK.ā
This is an unfortunate truth in many cases. One of the reason is that some species, loblolly pine is a prime example, are chosen because (a.) they are fast growing and (b.) the plantation species have undergone extensive genetic improvement through tree breeding programs to yield straighter logs of superior wood quality.
Naturally occurring species are often planted in forestry operations. Because this is likely to be done as enrichment planting within gaps in the existing forest, usually after selective logging, once the trees are established it is not apparent that they have not regenerated naturally.
Clearing a stand of timber and replanting with the original species is not always an environmental success story either. In Queensland, where I was employed, there were stands of hoop pine Auracaria cunninghamii a valuable timber tree which grows as an emergent from dry rainforest. In order to increase productive capacity the government forest service clear fell many of these stands and replanted them with hoop pine seedlings at a dense stocking rate. These plantations still yield valuable timber but the biodiversity values of a hoop pine plantation compared to a natural stand are much diminished. Some regeneration of the rainforest does occur but more often it is choked out by exotic weeds such as lantana.
the way this executive order goes, timber companies could get access to some of the oldest trees and ecosystems in the world, and there would be little to stop them from messing these up if they wanted to do so. some of it is really, really valuable as wood, but itās priceless as a living tree or habitat and is impossible to replace in our lifetimes, if ever.
itās almost guaranteed that some of the logging will result in ecological atrocities, but how much will depend on how much greed and ignorance there is in the people who carry it out.
hereās a good video along these lines: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VqECWRO5MeM
Yeah, that well planned part is what worries me
even when well planned and executed, you often get unintended bad consequences when you go in and disturb something that was fine as it was.
Even if āwell planned,ā there is no excuse for logging old growth forests in North America, period. They make up a tiny portion of the remaining forests, there are plenty of wood sources from non-old growth forests, and they do not need to be thinned like forests planted specifically for timber. No reason to mess with them except greed
Most forests in North America are not fine as is and could probably benefit from logging.
Chop down the trees. Turn it into golf courses. Add houses. Win win. Fire hazard resolved.
Except the logging companies have no interest in the type of logging that would improve forests because it requires leaving all the biggest valuable trees and opening up the weedy areas.
We donāt have enough mills in the first place to even process this much wood, so Iām not sure how thisāll play out in the long run. The mills by me canāt even process trees once they get to a certain diameter, so I donāt think there will even be many buyers for the lumber of old growth forests. If he really wanted to increase logging, heād have to open more mills, which donāt last long with the amount of maintenance and money needed for upkeep.