This story is part of our series, Wild Pennsylvania. Check out all of the other stories in the series here.
By Abigail Hakas | Next Generation Newsroom
Swaths of Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania could be on the chopping block as the federal government moves to increase logging in national forests across the country.
In a memo released last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins put almost 60% of national forest lands under an emergency designation, citing declining forest health and risk of wildfires.
The designated forest lands will be easier to harvest for more timber as some federally mandated regulations and processes, such as one that allows challenges to logging proposals, are not required under the emergency designation.
The U.S. Forest Service declined to comment on how much of the Allegheny National Forest falls under the designation.
According to Rollins’ memo, lands were selected from a 2023 wildfire report of high-risk areas and a 2024 Forest Service report of national forest land that identified around 98% of Allegheny National Forest’s over 500,000 acres as experiencing or at risk of experiencing insect or disease infestations.
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture placed swaths of national forest under an emergency designation – see in this map from the Department of Agriculture in blue – which could accelerate the timeline for timbering. The only national forest in Pennsylvania is the Allegheny National Forest.
“We have an abundance of timber at high risk of wildfires in our National Forests,” Rollins said in a written statement.
She added the move will empower “forest managers to reduce constraints and minimize the risks of fire, insects, and disease.” The net effect, she added, will “strengthen the American timber industry and further enrich our forests.”
But some environmental advocates have pushed back against the notion that the forests are in a state of emergency necessitating broad intervention.
“The whole notion that the National Forest System is suffering some kind of emergency is silly. You know, the forests aren’t suffering an emergency. The forests are happy as clams,” said Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, a nonprofit. “If we humans cease to exist in North America, the forest would be OK. It would not be an emergency for them.”
The memo was spurred by two executive orders issued by President Donald Trump last month that called for an expansion in logging. Local officials have supported the idea as a way to bring in more money for county coffers.
The move is also backed by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-15th), who represents the district where the Allegheny National Forest is located. The forest spans Warren, Elk, McKean, and Forest counties.
“National forests are in crisis, and I applaud Secretary Rollins for taking decisive action to cut red tape, reduce wildfire risk, and expand domestic timber production,” Thompson said in a statement. “By streamlining permitting and empowering forest managers, this initiative will create jobs, support rural economies, and ensure our forests are properly managed for future generations.”
Growing concern over wildfires has spurred proponents to push for more logging as a way to mitigate risk. But some say logging just adds fuel to the fire, literally.
Bigger, older trees that could be subject to logging have natural protection against wildfires. Dense bark withstands fire and holds more moisture, said Will Harlan, southeast director for the Center for Biological Diversity and former editor for Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, which covers the Allegheny National Forest.
“What is more likely to burn is a recently cleared forest that has a lot of slash and young brambles and thickets and that is often what is left behind by massive industrial logging,” Harlan said. “It depends on how the logging is done, but often it makes wildfires worse.”
More mature trees also store more carbon dioxide than younger ones, making them an effective tool against climate change and global warming.
Rollins’ memo gives the Forest Service power to take actions typically reserved for crises such as natural disasters, including emergency and direct hire authority, expedited permitting, and emergency consultation to comply with the Endangered Species Act.
Typically, individuals and organizations have the ability to object to logging proposals. If it’s done as an emergency action, however, the option to challenge would not exist, according to the Secretary of Agriculture’s memo.
Another memo sent to regional foresters and deputy chiefs calls for a 25% increase in timber production, with five-year regional strategies to do so created within 60 days of the release of a national strategy in May.
National forests provide a small percentage of the annual timber production nationwide. Most comes from corporate or family forests, according to Forest Service-funded research.
That memo also calls for the use of “innovative and efficient approaches” to meet “the minimum requirements” of environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and Endangered Species Act.
Curtailing endangered species protections
The Endangered Species Act requires analysis of how proposals might impact species that have been recognized federally as endangered. An emergency allows an expedited and less rigorous consultation, with a formal consultation done after the emergency if there was an adverse impact on endangered species.
Logging could threaten habitats for endangered species in Allegheny National Forest, such as bats that roost in the trees.
The forest has black cherry and red oak trees, both highly valued by the logging industry, said Stahl, a former forester. Cherry trees are a favorite of the endangered Indiana Bat, which could lose critical habitat if logging accelerates, Harlan said.
The northern long-eared bat, another endangered species in the forest, avoids large swaths of cut forest from logging and relies on older trees for habitat.
“They need all the help they can get, and national forests are their best stronghold,” Harlan said. “They tend to nest and roost in dead trees that are still standing or older trees that have thick bark that they can sometimes build nests within the bark. So, they especially depend on mature and older forests.”
Rivers in Allegheny National Forest are home to the eastern hellbender, Pennsylvanian’s state amphibian, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed to designate as an endangered species. Photo courtesy the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
Logging can also disturb sediment and soil that can end up in the waters of the forest, Harlan said. Those waters are home to several endangered or vulnerable species of mussels and the eastern hellbender salamander, Pennsylvanian’s state amphibian, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed to designate as an endangered species.
“What’s good for mussels and for the hellbender is good for us. We both need clean water,” Harlan said.
Abigail Hakas is a reporter for Next Generation Newsroom, part of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. Reach her at ab***********@*******rk.edu.
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