Alan Journet, Cofacilitator, Sothern Oregon Climate Action Now Rogue Valley Times, March 11, 2026

Public policy is more credible when grounded in evidence-based reality, rather than preconceived beliefs. Regrettably, the current Administration and many in Congress reject science, the best source for evidence-based reality and, instead, develop and endorse policy lacking any basis in reality. The pattern of rejecting science when developing public policy, very evident in the Department of Health and Human Services, has extended to repeated efforts on the part of the Administration and some in Congress to turn our western forests into board feet of timber.

Notable among these efforts has been the campaign to repeal the Roadless Rule, a rule established over 25 years ago to protect 58 million acres of the wildest and most undeveloped forests nationwide, many of them in the western states. Repealing the roadless rule was a transparent act to open our national treasures, especially our priceless old growth forests, to logging.

The President, many in his Administration, and many in Congress reject the conclusions of atmospheric scientists that gases released by the combustion of fossil fuels (among other human activities) are causing global warming and the climate chaos we are experiencing. These individuals inevitably don’t value the capacity of our forests, particularly old-growth forests, to capture and store (sequester) carbon from the atmosphere and reduce its concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Sequestering carbon dioxide counters the global warming that this atmospheric gas (among others) causes.

A similar effort to destroy our forests is the misnamed ‘Fix Our Forests Act (HR471). This proposal emerged concurrently with Trump Administration and Congressional Republican efforts, through H.R., 1 to impose a massive increase in logging on public lands. Although HR471 was developed under the guise of increasing our defense against wildfires, we note that the Administration simultaneously terminated many USFS staff who fight fires. This undermines the claim that reducing wildfire risk is a priority. Although HR471 proposes a series of possible actions that might be employed to reduce fire risk, paramount among these options is increasing logging. This, despite the evidence that old-growth forests are fire resistant, that logging itself often increases the risk of fires spreading, and industry-managed forests are equally likely or more likely to fuel megafires than public forests. It is obvious that reducing wildfire was not the prime driver of HR471. The goal was to ‘get the cut out!’

We are now confronted with another assault on our western forests, as Trump proposes to modify the Resource Management Plans for our forests to increase timber harvest. The forests of Southwest and Coastal Oregon are specifically targeted. Once again, those seeking to destroy our forests are using the Oregon and California Revested Railroad Lands (O&C) Act of 1937 as justification. Logging proponents avoid pointing out that this act does not identify timber harvest as the only value in these forests. Indeed, the act clearly states the management goals should include: “protecting watersheds, regulating stream flow, and contributing to the economic stability of local communities and industries, and providing recreational facilities…” Of course, the O&C Act long predates our awareness of global warming and its climate change consequences, or our understanding that climate is a profound contributor to wildfire risk, so it’s unsurprising that the act contained no mention of these potential values. Maybe, in 2026, we should be a little better informed than Congress was in 1937.

If we wish to protect our forests from this new federal assault, we can take advantage of the comment period now open on this proposal. The Federal Registry entry for this travesty can be accessed by searching ‘Federal Registry Western Forests Resource Management Plan.’ Comments can be submitted by March 23rd to: BLM_OR_Revision_Scoping@blm.gov.

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