New rule could mean more logging, destruction in KY’s massive Daniel Boone forest, groups warn
A new directive from federal agricultural officials could mean more logging and destruction of natural habitats in Kentucky’s 708,000-acre Daniel Boone National Forest, environmental groups warned this week.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins issued a memorandum Friday to issue an “emergency situation determination” on 112 million acres of forest land, which would make it easier for the U.S. Forest Service to circumvent certain environmental rules.
The Daniel Boone National Forest is included in the emergency order. The forest includes 708,000 acres in 21 Kentucky counties,
The emergency orders memo “will empower the U.S. Forest Service to expedite work on the ground and carry out authorized emergency actions to reduce wildfire risk and save American lives and communities,” according to a U.S.D.A. press release.
The U.S. Forest Service is part of the agricultural department.
The memo comes a little more than a month after President Donald Trump ordered the federal forest service to boost timber production by 25% on March 1.
Rollins said the new directive would help tamp down forest fires by reducing red tape and regulations so more forest land could be cut.
“Healthy forests require work, and right now, we’re facing a national forest emergency. We have an abundance of timber at high risk of wildfires in our national forests,” Rollins said.
But environmental groups have blasted the move, saying the emergency declaration is a way to bypass public comment and circumvent regulations that prohibit or curtail how much timber can be logged in the nation’s forests.
Sierra Club officials said the measure is just the latest in a string a moves by the Trump administration to hand over the country’s timber reserves to private, for-profit logging companies. Trump has named logging industry lobbyist Tom Schultz as director of the U.S. Forest Service.
Schultz has also worked for the Idaho Department of Lands and the Montana Department for Natural Resources, according to his biography.
“If this administration were serious about the wildfire crisis, it wouldn’t chaotically fire wildlife prevention staff at the behest of Elon Musk. It wouldn’t slash departmental budgets and preparedness funds,” said Anna Medema, associate director of legislative and administrative advocacy for Forests and Public Lands for the Sierra Club.
The Trump administration fired thousands of U.S. Forest Service employees, including some who work in the Daniel Boone National Forest, only to hire them back after a federal judge ruled they were wrongly terminated.
It’s also still not clear how many forest service employees who helped manage wildfires have been fired.
“What Donald Trump and his cabinet are actually interested in is using any power at their disposal to hand over control of public lands and national forests that belong to all of us to billionaires and logging companies,” Medema said.
What it means for Kentucky & Daniel Boone forest
Kentucky Heartwood, a nonprofit that has worked to protect the expansive forest said Rollins’ memo would make it easier for federal forest officials to log lands that were once protected.
“Logging justified as reducing wildfire risks may target mature and old-growth forests, even though these ecosystems are typically more fire-resilient and biodiverse,” said Amethyst Muncy, a staff attorney with Kentucky Heartwood.
“Increased logging with few opportunities for public input will likely threaten sensitive habitats, wildlife corridors and carbon-storing forests—core areas Kentucky Heartwood works to protect.”
Moreover, national forest lands are more than just strategic timber reserves. In Kentucky, the Daniel Boone National Forest is a key recreation draw —Cave Run Lake at the north end of the forest and Red River Gorge in the central portion of the forest —brings hundreds of thousands of tourists and pumps millions into the Kentucky economy.
It stretches from north of Morehead to the Tennessee state line south of Stearns.
It has 600 miles of trails and 250 recreation sites, according to its website.
Daniel Boone also provides ecological habitat for animals and helps with carbon capture, Muncy said.
“The increased emphasis on timber production is an attempt to reframe national forests as resources solely for commodity extraction, rather than public lands managed for biodiversity, recreation, and climate mitigation,” Muncy said.
“The memorandum,” she added, “presents a clear and immediate threat to the ecological integrity of the Daniel Boone National Forest and undermines decades of grassroots forest advocacy.”
Kentucky Heartwood and other environmental groups may sue to stop the new directive. Kentucky Heartwood has been successful through legal action and advocacy over several decades in stopping or curtailing logging in ecologically sensitive areas.
“For Kentucky Heartwood, it will likely demand a strategic response—ranging from legal challenges and public mobilization to scientific rebuttals and increased monitoring of logging operations on the ground,” Muncy said.
This story was originally published April 8, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
