A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Federal workers are preparing to auction off logging rights in three national forests in Oregon, despite the government shutdown. That is because the workers were deemed essential after President Trump issued an executive order earlier this year expanding U.S. timber production. Now, Trump also promised to reverse what's called the roadless rule, a ban on logging in almost 60 million acres of national forests. Here's NPR's Kirk Siegler.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: While still steady, Oregon's timber industry is a fraction of what it was back in the boom times when a lot more trees were being cut on U.S. Forest Service land. For the last two decades, most of the logs rolling into sawmills like this have been cut off private land. In the old timber town of Cottage Grove, Sean Smith runs the family owned Starfire Lumber. He says Trump's push to revive logging on public forests is generally well-received, but there's an asterisk.
SEAN SMITH: I mean, I think his heart is in the right place. But when you consider the moving parts...
SIEGLER: Mills like his are feeling pinched right now, not because they can't get enough logs, but because lumber prices are low. Opening up more public lands to logging could eventually help his margins, but he doubts that'll happen fast. And today's environmental laws mean timber sales take more time to plan, or they get tied up in court.
SMITH: When you consider that you have not only land management agencies but also fish and wildlife agencies that have to sign off on things...
SIEGLER: He says the president can't just sign an executive order and expect the woods around here to get cut down. Congress must pass a long-term forest policy.
SMITH: I mean, we don't live in a dictatorship. And I, for one, I'm OK with that (laughter). I hope most Americans are.
SIEGLER: Smith adds that so many people have left the timber industry since the 1990s after the notorious timber wars, when the endangered spotted owl led to the forest service dramatically curtailing timber sales on public land. Some 400 mills across the northwest closed, a loss of 35,000 jobs. And even if there was a new boom, many mill owners say it'd be hard to find enough people in rural Oregon who want to work in sawmills these days. Alex Owen (ph) started at Starfire in 2011 and worked his way up to sawmill supervisor.
ALEX OWEN: For me, I like the high pace. But with all the internet jobs out there today, a lot of the younger kids don't want to do the manual labor that this requires.
SIEGLER: President Trump is banking on that changing. His executive order on expanding American timber production says foreign lumber imports have stifled job creation. And further, Trump officials say reversing the 2001 roadless rule will return common sense to forest management. But right now in Oregon, it's widely known that the forest service doesn't have enough money to maintain its existing roads and isn't even meeting its timber harvest targets in forests that are already developed.
CHANDRA LEGUE: It's really that backlog that can be capitalized on without entering these pristine areas that have never been cut before.
SIEGLER: Huge ferns carpet the understory of a roadless forest that Chandra LeGue is hiking through near the college town of Eugene.
LEGUE: We are walking through a forest of western hemlock and Douglas fir.
SIEGLER: Environmentalists like LeGue of Oregon Wild also point to mechanization. So even if more forests are open to logging, there may not be many new jobs.
LEGUE: You know, this area, yeah, at one time, timber was king in western Oregon. Our economy has diversified immensely.
SIEGLER: It's likely national environmental groups will sue if the administration fast-tracks repealing the roadless rule without the required environmental analysis. But for Nick Smith with the Portland-based trade group American Forest Resource Council, reversing that rule isn't about a timber boom. It's more about cutting red tape for smaller thinning and fire prevention projects.
NICK SMITH: We do not mean industrial-style clear cuts, but the real work that needs to be done to restore these forests and make them more resilient to wildfire and climate change.
SIEGLER: But right now, everything - wildfires, workforce or environment pressures - feels like it's being overshadowed by a bigger unknown, the economy.
(SOUNDBITE OF TOOL SAWING)
SIEGLER: Back at Starfire, owner Sean Smith made the tough decision the other day to stop bringing in any new logs into his yard. Lumber prices remain soft due to sluggish home construction. A mill down the road just closed.
SMITH: The cynical observation you often hear is the price of everything goes up except lumber.
SIEGLER: For now, his mill is running full tilt, one shift a day. And Smith is hoping the drop in demand is just a typical seasonal thing going into winter.
Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Cottage Grove, Oregon. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
