In a move intended to boost domestic lumber production and lower construction costs, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on March 1 that would cut red tape for U.S. forestry projects and investigate the United States’ reliance on imported lumber and timber.

“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,” the March 1 executive order stated, claiming the dependence on imported lumber has increased the cost of construction and threatened economic security.

The gist of the directives are as follows:

• In one order, Trump calls for new or updated guidance to facilitate increased production and reduced timber delivery times to improve supply chain uncertainty. It directs authorities to speed up the approval and administrative processes for forestry projects; provide a target for the annual amount of timber from federal lands to be offered for sale over the next four years; and establish categorial exclusions for timber salvage actives and timber thinning.
• In a second order, Trump calls for an investigation to determine the risk that dependence/”over-reliance” on imported timber, lumber and derivative products has on national security.

A fact sheet published by the White House highlighted the lumber and timber industry as a crucial part of the U.S. manufacturing and defense industrial base, supporting 500 facilities and over 750,000 direct and indirect jobs.

(Photo: iStock/Melena-Nsk)