GLTPA's Director's Notes
Greetings,
Many times, people have said they are waiting for their ship to come in and more times than not, it sails before they realize it was parked at the dock. The reason is because it didn’t look exactly like what they had envisioned. Do the recent White House Executive Orders, “Addressing the Threat to National Security from Imports of Timber,” and “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production” look like the ship the forest industry envisioned?
For the most part they look exactly like what was envisioned. Why? Because it was influenced by an industry that has been talking about lack of management, tariff’s, onerous rules and regulations, and transportation inefficiencies for several years. The question is whether we will be aggressive in capitalizing on the opportunities at hand. The following comes from the Timber Expansion Executive Order (EO) and lays out what the issues are very well. Personally, I would have swapped out the word “exploit” in the second sentence for “utilize” as the forest industry has come a long way since the great cutover. Nonetheless the EO gets right to point, and it gets the point right.
“The United States has an abundance of timber resources that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber production needs, but heavy-handed Federal policies have prevented full utilization of these resources and made us reliant on foreign producers. Our inability to fully exploit our domestic timber supply has impeded the creation of jobs and prosperity, contributed to wildfire disasters, degraded fish and wildlife habitats, increased the cost of construction and energy, and threatened our economic security. These onerous Federal policies have forced our Nation to rely upon imported lumber, thus exporting jobs and prosperity and compromising our self-reliance. It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security.”
In addition to issues, the EO spells out a broad list of directives to address them including and not limited to the following.
Sec 2. Directives to the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture.
- Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Chief of the United States Forest Service (USFS), respectively, shall each issue new or updated guidance regarding tools to facilitate increased timber production and sound forest management, reduce time to deliver timber, and decrease timber supply uncertainty, such as the Good Neighbor Authority described in 16 U.S.C. 2113a, stewardship contracting pursuant to 16 U.S.C. 6591c, and agreements or contracts with Indian tribes under the Tribal Forest Protection Act as contemplated by 25 U.S.C. 3115a. The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall also each submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget any legislative proposals that would expand authorities to improve timber production and sound forest management.
As most of you reading this know, American Loggers Council, Forest Resource Association, and others including GLTPA, have been working on transportation issues for as long as I can remember. I cannot say for the other organizations, but I remember this topic was on the agenda for my first Washington DC fly-in with American Loggers Council in 2008. This issue and the legislation to address it by allowing state permitted loads on the interstate has had several different names over the years. Obviously, none of them have yielded results as the restriction is still ongoing. So, what’s the hangup?
The last version of the “Safe Routes Act” included 150-mile limitation for travel on the interstate primarily to appease the railroads. Mostly what we are talking about hauling long distances is, for all practical purposes, unsubsidized, low value raw material. If sawmills and pulp mills continue closing, hauling distances will increase. Multiple loggers in the West are already hauling over 200 miles.
Given that Congress has already made exceptions on hauling distances with milk in the Fast Act, the Mississippi legislation of 2024, and the New England legislation, they have set the groundwork for more exemptions. In a recent meeting with USDA Under Secretary Kristin Sleeper she stated that the “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production” EO was driven by The National Economic Council. The White House (WH) and Council have been highly influenced by one organization which has had and continues to have direct contact with them regarding the forest industry. That relationship started in President Trump’s first term and was reignited the night he was declared winner of the 2025 presidential election.
As stated earlier, the recent Presidential Executive Orders on forest management included the term “reduce time to deliver timber” and “to improve the speed of approving forestry projects.” These were included by design because of the ALC relationship with the White House. Opportunities have changed significantly under the Trump administration, and it would be in our best interest to be mindful of that. Heck, the republicans even stuck together to pass a budget Continuing Resolution. Amazing!
Traditionally there are two sources of opposition to this legislation. One is purely emotion with no evidence whatsoever to back up what they say will make highways less safe. In fact, studies have shown safety will remain status quo or improve. Sometime around 2020 or 2021, FRA instigated a call with one of the safety groups. When asked about their claims, they never provided one document of proof, nor did they accept our invitation to ride along for a day in a logging truck. As indicated in nearly every EO, it is quite clear that President Trump and his administration do not operate on emotion.
This is an opportunity as the forest industry does not operate on emotion either. As for rail, well, they speak for themselves. Speaking of the Great Lakes Region, how can rail possibly lose businesses they have not had or serviced for the last 15 years or more? In some areas of the country, rail has done very little hauling of raw forest products. Yet, rail blocks every efficiency the log haulers have tried to gain for as long as I can remember. Currently in Wisconsin, rail is asking GLTPA to support its “Wisconsin Short Line Rail Modernization Act.” According to GLTPA members with which I have had conversations, rail rates have done nothing but increase, service is mediocre at best, at least on the raw material end, and there seems to be no one owning rail cars willing to replace their aging fleet which will soon be completely obsolete and ready for scrapping. Yet they get away with their hypocritical point of view and testimony that says trucking is subsidized and here they are asking for help from the very industry they oppose every time trucking efficiency is sought. To be fair it is typically the Class I’s that oppose at the national level, however, rail has opposed state legislation also. Supporting the Modernization Act will be on the GLTPA April Board meeting agenda.
The week of March 10th, 2025, American Loggers Council and GLTPA were in Washington for several meetings with multiple people on multiple topics. One of our meetings was with U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s team to discuss “Safe Routes” and President Trump’s Forest management EO’s. After sharing a great deal of information with the Secretary’s team regarding safety data, bridge information, and other items, a request was made asking the Secretary to issue an “Emergency Interim Guidance” allowing log haulers to use the interstates while this legislation runs its course again.
As an FYI, Senator Ron Johnson has introduced the Senate version and Congressman Tony Wied representing District 8 is running the House Version. Thank you to them for putting forth their best efforts to take advantage of the opportunity at hand.
The questions are this, would Congress discriminate against the forest industry, would they go against President Trumps EO to increase transportation speed and efficiency of forest products especially since the President and NEC are moving forward to increase forest health with better implementation of forest management? I don’t know the answers but one would certainly hope common sense and economics would prevail.
We have done our homework. Our organizations have funded studies, we’ve done brake testing, we’ve done load securement testing, a bridge study was completed, and all the rest. We have the data. For the first time in my memory, we have an elected administration and agency Secretaries in place who understand that a nation cannot thrive and grow wealth on restrictions and regulations. From what I witnessed and heard firsthand in DC it is not business as usual. There is hope and there is support from the President, his cabinet members, and throughout his administration to utilize America’s forests with a use-them but don’t abuse them attitude. They understand that low cost and efficiency is how America will get back on track. That is exactly what Safe Routes does, it creates time and cost efficiency, and it does it even better without the 150-mile restriction.
Until next Month,
Henry
Every Easter, families and churches around the world retell and celebrate the story of Jesus’ resurrection. As the Maxwell Leadership Bible states, “The disciples had lost their Teacher and Lord. The Jewish leaders had quieted their opposition. The common people had lost their hope of a revolution against Rome. Even the devil thought he had finally stopped this divine Leader and forced him to abort His mission.” What a surprise awaited that first Resurrection Sunday morning!
From the book of Mark VS 16-8
Now when the Sabath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves “who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they had looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away-for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed, you seek the Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is Risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples-and Peter-that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as he said to you. So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
For those of us who are Christians one can only imagine what it would have been like to witness in person the first resurrection, to witness Jesus defeating the enemy for good! Think about it. Christ who is the alpha and omega, dies on the cross and rises from the dead in order that His people who believe in Him can share in His victory for eternal life. By earthly comparison its like a rich man who shares his inheritance with his family. It’s like a forest industry that shares all their hard work with the public to get every life-sustaining product they need and has no idea how they got it. Just like we as an industry try to educate the public about our forest management efforts, Jesus told his followers we are to be salt and light in a rotting, bland, and dark world. Christians are to make things better and brighter for others by bringing out the God flavors and God colors to the world.
God Bless you all as we celebrate Easter for 2025. He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!!