On Saturday March 1st, the White House issued an Executive Order for the “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production”.
The order directs the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior to issue new guidance within the next 30 days to accelerate timber harvesting on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), with the goal to “fully exploit our domestic timber supply.”
This executive order intends to remove compliance with the Endangered Species Act, bypassing critical protections for Virginia’s most vulnerable animals and plants. There’s no way to increase timber production without targeting old-growth and mature forest stands that do the crucial work of providing habitat for wildlife, filtering municipal drinking water, providing recreational opportunities, enhancing wildfire resilience, and absorbing and storing the carbon necessary to fight climate change. It’s also unclear how timber sales could be planned, administered, and implemented when the government has just dismissed thousands of Forest Service employees.
These public lands are for all of us, held in trust for the common good. If you hunt, hike, fish, paddle, picnic, or bird watch on public lands, this executive order has imminent consequences for the wild places you currently enjoy using. Once these trees are cut and sold, your forests are lost for a human lifetime.
Since its formation in 1969, the Virginia Wilderness Committee has been the driving force behind federal legislation that permanently protects Virginia's most outstanding wild areas. Our hard work has resulted in the designation of 23 Wilderness and three National Scenic areas on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests (NF), totaling over 155,000 acres of permanently protected NF land in Virginia managed by the USFS. These designations ensure that these special places remain perpetually off limits for energy development and timber harvesting; however, the Commonwealth’s remaining 1.65 million acres of National Forest could be targeted for exploitation under this new Executive Order.
With our federal lands under threat, and 30 days until the first Executive Order deadline, time is of the essence. Send a message to your Senators and Representatives today, using our suggested draft below. Urge them to push back against the direction set by President Trump’s March 1st Executive Orders on timber production.
Let your congressperson know today your #PublicLands are #WorthMoreStanding.
Sincerely,
Ellen Stuart-Haentjens
Executive Director VWC
[email protected]
Click below for your Congress members' contact information.
Virginia Senators
Tim Kaine Contact page
Mark Warner Contact Page
Virginia Representatives
1st District Robert Wittman Contact page
2nd District Jennifer Kiggans Contact page
3rd District Bobby Scott Congress page
4th District Jennifer McClellan Contact page
5th District John McGuire Contact page
6th District Ben Cline Contact page
7th District Eugene Vindman Contact page
8th District Don Beyer Contact page
9th District Morgan Griffith Contact page
VWC encourages you to use the following draft letter to contact your Senators and Representative.
Dear Senator/Representative XXX:
The White House’s Executive Order to expand American timber production seeks to remove compliance with the Endangered Species Act, ease restrictions on necessary environmental regulations that “impose an undue burden on timber production”, and “fully exploit our domestic timber supply.”
There’s no way to speed approval of timber sales or increase timber production without targeting old-growth and mature forest stands that do the crucial work of providing habitat for wildlife, filtering municipal drinking water, providing recreational opportunities, enhancing wildfire resilience, and absorbing and storing the carbon necessary to fight climate change.
These public lands are for all of us, held in trust for the common good. Once these trees are cut and sold, our forests will be lost for a human lifetime.
We urge you to push back against the direction set by President Trump’s March 1st Executive Orders on timber production.
Our Public Lands are #WorthMoreStanding.
Sincerely,
Public Lands Owner/User
The order directs the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior to issue new guidance within the next 30 days to accelerate timber harvesting on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), with the goal to “fully exploit our domestic timber supply.”
This executive order intends to remove compliance with the Endangered Species Act, bypassing critical protections for Virginia’s most vulnerable animals and plants. There’s no way to increase timber production without targeting old-growth and mature forest stands that do the crucial work of providing habitat for wildlife, filtering municipal drinking water, providing recreational opportunities, enhancing wildfire resilience, and absorbing and storing the carbon necessary to fight climate change. It’s also unclear how timber sales could be planned, administered, and implemented when the government has just dismissed thousands of Forest Service employees.
These public lands are for all of us, held in trust for the common good. If you hunt, hike, fish, paddle, picnic, or bird watch on public lands, this executive order has imminent consequences for the wild places you currently enjoy using. Once these trees are cut and sold, your forests are lost for a human lifetime.
Since its formation in 1969, the Virginia Wilderness Committee has been the driving force behind federal legislation that permanently protects Virginia's most outstanding wild areas. Our hard work has resulted in the designation of 23 Wilderness and three National Scenic areas on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests (NF), totaling over 155,000 acres of permanently protected NF land in Virginia managed by the USFS. These designations ensure that these special places remain perpetually off limits for energy development and timber harvesting; however, the Commonwealth’s remaining 1.65 million acres of National Forest could be targeted for exploitation under this new Executive Order.
With our federal lands under threat, and 30 days until the first Executive Order deadline, time is of the essence. Send a message to your Senators and Representatives today, using our suggested draft below. Urge them to push back against the direction set by President Trump’s March 1st Executive Orders on timber production.
Let your congressperson know today your #PublicLands are #WorthMoreStanding.
Sincerely,
Ellen Stuart-Haentjens
Executive Director VWC
[email protected]
Click below for your Congress members' contact information.
Virginia Senators
Tim Kaine Contact page
Mark Warner Contact Page
Virginia Representatives
1st District Robert Wittman Contact page
2nd District Jennifer Kiggans Contact page
3rd District Bobby Scott Congress page
4th District Jennifer McClellan Contact page
5th District John McGuire Contact page
6th District Ben Cline Contact page
7th District Eugene Vindman Contact page
8th District Don Beyer Contact page
9th District Morgan Griffith Contact page
VWC encourages you to use the following draft letter to contact your Senators and Representative.
Dear Senator/Representative XXX:
The White House’s Executive Order to expand American timber production seeks to remove compliance with the Endangered Species Act, ease restrictions on necessary environmental regulations that “impose an undue burden on timber production”, and “fully exploit our domestic timber supply.”
There’s no way to speed approval of timber sales or increase timber production without targeting old-growth and mature forest stands that do the crucial work of providing habitat for wildlife, filtering municipal drinking water, providing recreational opportunities, enhancing wildfire resilience, and absorbing and storing the carbon necessary to fight climate change.
These public lands are for all of us, held in trust for the common good. Once these trees are cut and sold, our forests will be lost for a human lifetime.
We urge you to push back against the direction set by President Trump’s March 1st Executive Orders on timber production.
Our Public Lands are #WorthMoreStanding.
Sincerely,
Public Lands Owner/User
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