Sierra Club Statement on Forest Service Proposal to Expand Post-Fire Salvage Logging

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today marked the end of a short two-week public comment period on post-fire recovery actions in national forests.

The comment period sought public input on a recently released environmental assessmentfrom the U.S. Forest Service on post-fire actions in national forests across the country. Similar language has encouraged a practice called salvage logging, a scientifically questionable activity which can lead to real harms to forests. Post-fire salvage operations have historically been used to circumvent environmental protections and public engagement processes, and can lead to heavy logging in areas where logging would otherwise not be allowed.

Trump Administration policies have frequently sought to allow additional logging in national forests, beginning with Donald Trump's Day One executive order calling for greatly expanded timber quotas in national forests. The Administration has also sought to limit public input on controversial proposals by slashing the length of public comment periods from the traditional 60 or 90 days to a matter of weeks.

In response, Alex Craven, Sierra Club's national forests campaign manager, released the following statement:

"This proposal looks less like a strategy to confront the wildfire crisis, and more like a strategy for the Forest Service to expand domestic timber production. Post-fire salvage logging is one of the most ecologically damaging practices in land management. Addressing the wildfire crisis means protecting people and communities, and restoring the natural intensity and scale of fires in forests. Salvage logging would take us in exactly the wrong direction."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.