EXCLUSIVE: The Forest Service is using the threat of wildfires to meet timber targets

Recognized as both a legacy of the agency’s past fire suppression policies and the effects of climate change, the wildfire crisis now consumes a significant chunk of the Forest Service’s time and resources.

In crisis, however, the agency also sees opportunity, according to both public reports and internal Forest Service documents obtained by the nonprofit WildEarth Guardians through a public records request and shared with Columbia Insight.

Internal documents show the Forest Service discussing—both internally and with the timber industry—how its various legal and policy “tools” and emergency authorities related to its wildfire prevention programs could be and have been harnessed to increase sales of board feet of timber.