Trump’s Plan to Cut Down More Trees Faces a Host of Problems

USA Today
By Elizabeth Weise, Terry Collins, Zach Urness, and Joel Shannon

“Logging doesn’t curb fires, it intensifies fires. Trump falsely claims that more logging will curb wildfires and protect communities, but there’s an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence showing the exact opposite,” said Chad Hanson, a co-founder of the John Muir Project. “The more trees you remove, the faster wildfire flames sweep through the forest. It gives less time for people to evacuate and less time for first responders to react.” Wildfires move faster because removing trees reduces wind resistance, allowing winds to sweep through faster, Hanson added.

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Trump Orders Swathes of US Forests to be Cut Down for Timber

The Guardian
By Oliver Milman

Donald Trump has ordered that swathes of America’s forests be felled for timber, evading rules to protect endangered species while doing so and raising the prospect of chainsaws razing some of the most ecologically important trees in the US. The president, in an executive order, has demanded an expansion in tree cutting across 280m acres (113m hectares) of national forests and other public lands, claiming that “heavy-handed federal policies” have made America reliant on foreign imports of timber.

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The Business of Wildfire Prevention

Big Bear Grizzly

Environmental groups say thinning forests can actually increase the threat of forest fire. And in 2023, the John Muir Project and Friends of Big Bear Valley submitted a lawsuit against USFS to halt the project.

It’s unclear where the North Big Bear Landscape Restoration project stands. The USFS is unable to comment on the issue due to a national freeze on media relations. Both the John Muir Project and Friends of Big Bear Valley say they have not received a substantive update on the project.

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