235,000 acres in California forests at risk as feds greenlight massive logging push

Los Angeles, California – Southern California’s wildfire-scarred national forests may soon face a new threat: widespread logging. An emergency order issued Friday by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins calls for a 25% increase in timber harvesting across nearly 113 million acres of national forests nationwide, including some of California’s most iconic and ecologically sensitive landscapes.

The sweeping directive, part of what the Trump administration has called a response to a “forest health crisis,” targets large areas of the Angeles, San Bernardino, Los Padres, and Cleveland national forests. Officials cite wildfire risk, insect infestations, and a heavy reliance on timber imports as justifications for the order, which aims to expedite permits for logging operations.

“These actions will improve the durability, resilience, and resistance to fire, insects, and disease,” Rollins said. Logging industry leaders welcomed the move, calling it overdue. “Our federal forests have been mismanaged for decades,” said Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council. “This is a common-sense directive.”

But environmentalists warn the order is a thinly veiled giveaway to the timber industry, disguised as fire prevention. “Even though the secretary’s order cloaks it in wildfire prevention, nobody should be fooled,” said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is all about getting the board feet cut.”

Spivak and other conservationists argue that post-fire logging—especially salvage operations—causes far more ecological damage than it prevents. Bulldozers used to remove burned trees can compact soils, increase erosion, and destroy fragile habitats. “Even standing dead trees provide critical benefits,” she added, “like anchoring hillsides and supporting biodiversity.”

In the Los Padres National Forest, which stretches across five counties, up to 235,000 acres could be opened to logging and vegetation clearance. The San Bernardino forest may also see commercial timber operations in its remaining pine stands. While the Cleveland National Forest is more limited in logging potential, much of its northern region is already burned and closed to public use.

The Center for Biological Diversity plans to challenge individual logging projects that result from the order, citing threats to wildlife protected under the Endangered Species Act, including the California condor, arroyo toad, and the gnatcatcher songbird. “There’s no true emergency,” Spivak said. “This is a clear violation of the National Forest Management Act, which requires balanced stewardship—not prioritization of timber profits.”

She warned that heavy logging could increase, not reduce, fire risk. “Heavily logged forests are the most flammable,” Spivak said. “We will use every legal tool to halt the implementation of this reckless order.”