More logging in Georgia’s national forests? It’s possible under a new directive

Few states in the eastern U.S. are home to more national forestry lands than Georgia.

North Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest district spans 750,000 acres in portions of 18 counties. It is home to old growth trees, wild and scenic rivers, and the southern terminus of the famed Appalachian Trail.

Farther south, the Oconee portion covers 115,000 acres of Georgia’s Piedmont region and includes critical habitat for the threatened red-cockaded woodpecker. Combined under the banner of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, they represent some of the largest tracts of federally-owned forests east of the Mississippi River.

Now, a new directive from U.S. Department of Agriculture and Forest Service leaders could open more of these lands to logging, a shift that worries environmental and outdoor recreation proponents alike.

The changes were announced earlier this month by President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the USDA, Secretary Brooke Rollins. The move, Rollins said, was in response to a March 1 executive order issued by Trump calling for an expansion of U.S. timber production, along with the launch of a federal national security investigation into foreign timber imports.

In an April 3 memo, Rollins announced an “Emergency Situation Determination” that applies to nearly 113 million of the 144 million acres managed by the Forest Service across the country.

Rollins’ memo said the declaration was in response to growing wildfire risks, pest and disease outbreaks and invasive species, all of which have “contributed to what is now a full-blown wildfire and forest health crisis.” In a separate April 3 letter spurred by Rollins’ memo, Christopher French, the Forest Service’s acting associate chief, directed regional agency staff to “streamline and simplify” permitting processes to achieve timber production goals.

The declaration’s effects will likely be felt most in the Western U.S., home to the vast majority of national forestry lands and where devastating wildfires, worsened by human-caused climate change, have grown increasingly common.

Large portions of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest are also covered by the determination, according to a map released by the agency, though the exact acreage was not immediately available.

Commercial logging on national forestry lands has always been part of the national strategy of maintaining a sustainable timber supply. For the last 10 years, an average of around 3 billion board feet of timber has been harvested each year from federal forests, providing revenue to pay for Forest Service costs.

Logging interests, however, are supposed to be balanced with other land uses, including energy development, recreation, fishing and the preservation of habitat for wildlife and scenic value.

Though fire risk is generally lower in the eastern U.S. than out west, Georgia’s national forest lands are not immune to blazes. Just last month, the Big Ridge Fire scorched more than 3,400 acres in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest.

But fires, especially smaller ones, also play a crucial role in forest ecosystems in Georgia. For years, the Forest Service, the Georgia Forestry Commission and other partners have used prescribed burns to boost native species and clear out dried brush to prevent more destructive blazes, like those that have erupted in states like California.

In a statement, a Forest Service spokesperson said the agency “stands ready to fulfill the secretary’s vision of productive and resilient national forests outlined in the memorandum.” The agency did not immediately respond to a question about how much of the Chattahoochee-Oconee is already leased for logging.

But environmental groups questioned whether the situation in Georgia’s forests is indeed an emergency — and, if so, how more logging would help.