Trump’s Forest Service Chief Is Rewriting Logging Access Rules He Once Lobbied to Change
By Lois Parshley, research director, Public Citizen's Climate Program
Major logging companies are poised to benefit from a new Trump administration rule, and a former industry executive is the official overseeing it.
In August, the Trump administration pushed forward a plan to open nearly 60 million acres of previously protected national forest to road construction and commercial logging. The U.S. Forest Service filed a proposed rule to overturn the national Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which for the last quarter-century has protected intact ecosystems and the wildlife that depend on them. In the announcement, the Forest Service director, Tom Schultz, said, “Active forest management is not an option. It’s essential.”
A former timber industry executive, Schultz was the first-ever industry representative to lead the federal agency, joining it from a role as vice president where he directed government relations for the large lumber company Idaho Forest Group—and where he once lobbied Congress for nearly this exact outcome.
In 2022, Schultz delivered testimony to Congress as the head of the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, a lobbying group representing the industry, where he asked Congress to allow new road construction and noted that vegetation removal wasn’t possible in Inventoried Roadless Areas. A Public Citizen report earlier this summer documented that nearly every item Schultz previously advocated for has since been adopted or advanced under the administration he now serves.
Schultz had also discussed national forest issues with United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Michael Boren prior to his taking office. During congressional hearings earlier this summer, Schultz acknowledged that he and Boren had talked about the Sawtooth National Forest before Boren joined the administration. Schultz went on to be appointed Boren’s chief of staff, before being promoted to the top Forest Service position. This drew concerns from lawmakers that their close relationship could complicate how the Forest Service handles matters involving Boren’s personal interests, including disputes connected to his Sawtooth National Forest properties. In July, for example, Boren requested the agency send additional aircraft to fight a fire near his extensive ranch in the national forest.
As the administration advances sweeping changes to national forest policy that mirror the long-standing priorities of the timber and resource development industries, potential conflicts of interest are multiplying. The American Forest Resource Council (AFRC), a timber industry trade association including the Idaho Forest Group, has been calling for the recession of the roadless rule, saying it “unnecessarily prohibits, restricts, or reduces responsible access and active forest management,” blaming these restrictions for increasing fire risks. Forest Service data shows, however, that wildfires are nearly three times as likely to start near roads.
The language in its formal government comments has been directly echoed by Schultz. In addition to industry catch-phrases like “active forest management” and “resilient forests,” AFRC’s public comments about the roadless rule said decisions should be “by a one-size-fits-all approach decided in Washington, D.C.,” and “this one-size-fits-all policy has not worked.” The USDA’s announcement says the rule is “a one-size-fits-all restriction that has frustrated land managers,” and quotes Secretary Rollins saying the rule “tied the hands of local land managers with a one-size-fits-all federal policy.”
AFRC also wrote that “strategically placed and maintained roads are essential for safe and effective wildfire response,” and in “nearly every major wildfire over the past 15–20 years, the Forest Service has identified the lack of road access as a key barrier to effective response.” The announcement quotes Schultz referring to these same barriers specifically, saying the roadless rule “has frustrated land managers and served as a barrier to action – prohibiting road construction, which has limited wildfire suppression and active forest management.”
Since Schultz took over at the Forest Service, the AFRC has spent more than $210,000 advocating to expand harvesting in national forests. Idaho Forest Group itself had a marked uptick in lobbying spending in 2026, including advocating with the agency now run by their former employee to “support USDA efforts to advance forest management.”
The company’s timber procurement relies heavily on active management agreements across state and federal forestlands in the Pacific Northwest. It has benefited from post-fire salvage sales, where burned forests become available for harvest under emergency management programs that can create new timber opportunities. In a company earnings call after Schultz was confirmed, lumber company PotlatchDeltic CEO Eric Cremers confirmed industry executives maintain direct familiarity with Schultz in his new role. “”We know the new Forest Service Chief,” he said on an earnings call.
After executive orders like “Freeing Our Forests” that called for boosted production, the USDA declared a national “forest emergency” last year across 112 million acres of federal land, granting line officers expedited timber sale authority. Under Schultz, the agency has also imposed strict limits on environmental assessments, reducing their length and capping the time that can be spent on them. Along with major regulatory changes, Schultz has overseen the largest structural reorganization of the Forest Service in a century, moving the agency’s headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, eliminating regional offices, and shifting authority toward newly created state-level leadership positions. The USDA’s own page about the Forest Service’s reorganization page directly cites AFRC content (a “healthy communities” podcast.)
The proposed recession will be open for public comment until September 21st, the last chance the public will have to weigh in on this dramatic change to public land management.
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