FLA: More Than 400 Organizations Urge President Trump to Act on National Forestry Crisis

More than 400 associations, businesses, and landowners representing the forest products sector have signed a joint letter to President Donald J. Trump urging immediate action to address an escalating crisis threatening America’s timber supply, rural economies, and energy security.

The effort, led by the Forest Landowners Association, the American Biomass Energy Association, and the American Loggers Council, underscores the urgency of stabilizing the American forest sector and its access to markets in the face of mounting mill closures, devastating natural disasters, and unfair foreign trade practices.

The letter follows President Trump’s March 1^st Executive Order directing federal agencies to boost domestic timber and wood product production. Signatories warn that without decisive action, the nation risks losing its forestland base, critical markets, and millions of jobs that depend on a healthy forestry value chain.

The coalition calls on the Administration to advance four immediate solutions:

1. Endorse and support the Disaster Reforestation Act – Ensure landowners can recover after catastrophic natural disasters and replant their forests.
2. Expand the definition of woody biomass in the Renewable Fuel Standard – Open new markets for low-value wood while boosting renewable energy production.
3. Promote biomass for electricity – Create new rural jobs and reduce wildfire risks while expanding renewable power.
4. Support the Loggers Economic Assistance Act – Provide direct relief for logging contractors, stabilizing the sector’s critical workforce.

“America’s private forests are a strategic national asset,” said Scott Jones, Forest Landowners Association CEO. “By advancing these measures, the Trump Administration can provide certainty for landowners, loggers, and mills, while strengthening domestic manufacturing, renewable energy, and rural livelihoods.”

“The Trump Administration inherited a declining timber and forest products industry,” stated Scott Dane, Executive Director of the American Loggers Council. “The Administration has aggressively issued multiple Executive Orders and policies to reverse the decline and support the recovery of this essential economic and environmental sector. The recommendations outlined in this joint letter will provide the resources and tools to implement the Administration’s agenda and begin the recovery of the U.S. timber and forest products industry.”

“We are grateful to President Trump for pointing out in his Timber Expansion executive order that ‘bioenergy is critical to the nation’s well-being,’” said Carrie Annand, Executive Director for the American Biomass Energy Association. “Biomass power converts flammable forest waste into 24/7 renewable energy. Utilizing biomass is a critical part of revitalizing America’s forest products supply chain, and holds enormous potential for rural American jobs, for wildfire risk prevention, and for supplying 24/7 power to the electric grid.”

The coalition stresses that America’s 3.9 million forestry-supported jobs, along with the nation’s housing supply, infrastructure, consumer products, energy independence, and national security, depend on strong working forests.

Source: Forest Landowners Association