The US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued an executive memorandum to the National Forest Service earlier this month with the goal of increasing timber outputs, simplifying permitting, removing the processes outlined in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well as reducing implementation and contracting burdens. The memo also authorizes the US Forest Service to work directly with states, local governments and forest product producers to “ensure that the forest service delivers a reliable and consistent supply of timber.” The memo was created in response to President Trump’s Executive Order earlier this year to expand American Timber production by 25%, as well as to reduce wildfire risk among other goals. Last week, in an op-ed in the Washington Examiner, Secretary Rollins said, “We are doing everything we can to leverage our bountiful resources and increase timber production by 25%. We are cutting burdensome regulations in the National Environmental Policy Act that have impeded operators from doing their jobs. The United States has an abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic needs. Right now, we are far too reliant on imported timber. Decades of bad trade policy have undermined our domestic industry. Towns across the nation have seen sawmills close. Data show that the number of people employed in forestry and logging has decreased by a whopping 48.3% since 2000.”