Wilderness Areas Exempt From Emergency Logging Order, USDA Says

The US Forest Service will leave congressionally-designated wilderness areas alone in its quest to expand logging under an emergency order signed last week, the agency said Monday.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on April 3 signed an order declaring an emergency on more than 176,000 square miles of national forests—a land area roughly the size of South Dakota—due to wildfire risk and pest infestations. Citing emergency provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the order calls for widespread logging on that land to boost timber production and reduce the ...