Trump administration declares timber emergency after decades of employment decline in the industry

Trump administration declares timber emergency after decades of employment decline in the industry

Earlier this year, the Trump administration issued an executive order to increase timber production by at least 25%, citing wildfire risk reduction and economic development as the primary drivers behind the order. Whether President Donald Trump’s forest management policies will improve rural economies in communities formerly dependent on logging is a point of contention, however.

The Daily Yonder reporters Sarah Melotte and Ilana Newman spent a week in mid-August interviewing sources for a series of articles about mining, natural resources, and human health in the rural Northwest. On their first day out in the field, they met logger Bruce Vincent, owner of Vincent Logging, at his office in