WHITEFISH, Mont. — U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Shultz on Tuesday said America’s national forests need less wildfire and more logging, mining, grazing and recreational activity.
Schultz was the keynote speaker at a conference organized by the Congressional Western Caucus and chaired by U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-California. The multi-day summit in the Flathead Valley has given U.S. senators and representatives an opportunity to talk policy with state officials, industry groups and prominent think tanks such as Americans for Prosperity.
Schultz said his “back-to-basics” approach to “multiple-use management” will favor expedited review for natural resource development by overhauling agency guidance on federal laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. Schultz also said he intends to aggressively suppress all wildfires and make more U.S. Forest Service land accessible for recreational use by motorized users and others.
“America should mine, mill and manufacture more,” he told those assembled at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, adding that more of the country’s national forests will be available to log in the near- and long- term to comply with Trump’s executive orders and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Trump signed into law on July 4.
Schultz said implementing those directives will give companies more certainty to invest in lumber mills, which cost about $250 million to build.
“Right now I don’t know what Congress is going to do,” he said.
During his Tuesday afternoon address, Schultz indicated that the Department of Government Efficiency-led effort to reduce the Forest Service’s ranks has not led to as many cuts as the Trump administration initially proposed. In February, the agency fired more than 3,000 agency personnel who were considered probationary, meaning they hadn’t been in their current position for more than a year or two.
“We have not been firing people outside that process,” he said, adding that most of those employees returned “eventually.”
Schultz told MTFP that some employees had opted into the early retirement offer, but there is no active reduction-in-force effort underway. Under that program, sometimes called RIF, federal agencies can reduce their payrolls in a manner considered more durable by being more thoughtfully considered.
“I can’t say for certain there won’t be any [reductions in force], but that’s not the plan,” Schutlz said.
Trump announced Schultz’s appointment to lead the Forest Service in February. He is the first chief who hasn’t previously worked for the agency, which he describes as a strength. He worked for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation between 1997 and 2011 before pursuing public- and private-sector forestry roles in Idaho.
The planet would be a better place without its “top” species: stupid, ignorant human monkeys, particularly those of the conservative variety. They lie like rugs and expect respect in return…as they plunder the planet to a pile of trash.
Schulz will simply favor some recreational users over others. In my case, more roads for recreational users will simply mean less tranquility and fewer Brookies where I walk-in to fish. In other cases, firewood will be more difficult to find and elk will disappear from human commotion.
Not that I am against taking care of our forests – which I think has been done poorly by shutting down logging over the last couple of decades – but the headline of the article is disingenuous. Is this a news story or another opinion piece because I do not see anybody advocating for less wildlife?
As the planet continues to heat up, I don’t see how Mr Schultz plans to reduce wildfires in the nation’s forests, unless he decides to use the tRUmp administrations approach to Covid. “What do you mean we found more cases of Covid? Stop testing!” translates into “What do you mean we’ve found more wildfires? Stop looking!”
By clearing out deadfall beetle killed timber so that there’s less fuel to keep a fire going. Roads for fire truck access.
Saw mills will not take beetle killed timber. We don’t need more roads for fire truck access, if access is an issue, dozer lines are constructed, or aerial attack is used. Grazing, sure, but allotments are already figured on carrying capacity. How about we charge ranchers more than $1.35 AUM, it might help pay for the Range Techs that oversee those operations. More motorized access, not on your life. People get off your sorry butts and walk. There are too many motorized nincompoops in the forest now. You notice that he didn’t mention the total number of USFS personnel that took the DRP, or that some were asked to voluntarily come back to help fill critical jobs that were lost throughout the agency. Tom Schultz is an idiot…..
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Sawmills will take beetle killed timber. It needs to be harvested before it rots or checks. The mill in Saratoga has been milling almost exclusively beetle killed trees for years now.
When the bark beetle infestation happened in the Black Hills, Nieman saw mills would not take these trees. Instead there were crews that marked the trees, and other crews that went out and did a cut N chunk. My hats off to the Saratoga mill for processing bark beetle killed trees. They are filling a niche that other mills will not .
Canada has better timber and Nebraska has better beef. Wyoming has neither.
Don’t be late, Canada needs you.
We certainly don’t need more grazing on National Forest land. You can hardly take a step without stepping in cow crap now. We also don’t need more roads. Get off your lazy butt and do a little walking.
I agree. An the Wyoming legislature wonders why young people are leaving Wyoming in droves. What a bunch idiots.
It will be very interesting to see how they plan to physically and economically log so much of the western mountains that are so steep that you can hardly stand on them, let alone log them. Also, beetle killed pine trees can be harvested as long as you get to them soon enough. Neiman Lumber in Hulett, Wyoming, was able to salvage vast amounts of beetle kill in the Black Hills area successfully.
It’s about time we put an actual Forester in charge. Get busy Tom.
I’m sure he’s qualified, kind of like RFK ( the parasite ate my brain nut job) and the head of the education department (the wrestling lady that thought AI is A1, as in the steak sauce). Dementia donny knows how to pick them.