Forest Service chief: More logging and mining, less wildfire in national forests

U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Shultz on Tuesday said America’s national forests need less wildfire and more logging, mining, grazing and recreational activity.

Schultz was the keynote speaker at a conference organized by the Congressional Western Caucus chaired by U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-California. The multi-day summit in the Flathead Valley has given U.S. senators and representatives an opportunity to talk policy with state officials, industry groups and prominent think tanks such as Americans for Prosperity.

Schultz said his “back-to-basics” approach to “multiple-use management” will favor expedited review for natural resource development by overhauling agency guidance on federal laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. 

Schultz also said he intends to aggressively suppress all wildfires and make more USFS land accessible for recreational use by motorized users and others.

“America should mine, mill and manufacture more,” he told those assembled at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, adding that more of the country’s national forests will be available to log in the near and long term to comply with Trump’s executive orders and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Trump signed into law on July 4. 

Schultz said implementing those directives will give companies more certainty to invest in lumber mills, which cost about $250 million to build. 

“As [the Forest Service has] pulled back on harvest, there was an extra burden on private land,” he said. “If we are up and down and up and down — or just down — that does not provide certainty to make investments … When we see a mill go away, it is really tough to see that come back. We need to hang on to what we have.”

Shultz said he anticipates that the agency will begin the nuts-and-bolts process for undoing the roadless rule within the next “couple of weeks.” Implemented in 2001 under the administration of former Democratic President Bill Clinton, the roadless rule sought to preserve intact ecosystems by limiting road building.

Schultz also spoke about the “leader’s intent” document he issued earlier this year directing Forest Service personnel to aggressively suppress wildfires, which aligns with Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte’s views. Since assuming office in 2021, Gianforte has pressured federal land managers to quickly and completely extinguish wildfires, an approach that has occasionally generated friction with agencies like the National Park Service accustomed to letting lightning-sparked fires play a role in Western ecosystems.

“There’s a role for fire, but there’s a time and a place,” Schultz said. “The time and place is not June, July, August and September. That’s not the time to be managing for wildfire. We need to be putting the fires out and that’s what we’re doing.”

Asked in a follow-up conversation with Montana Free Press if that full suppression strategy also applies to wilderness areas, which aren’t typically extinguished barring imminent harm to a particular community or resource, Schultz said such decisions would be evaluated case-by-case “based on conditions and the availability of resources.”

He also told MTFP that he’s exploring agency “consolidation” efforts to comply with an executive order Trump issued at the start of his second term in the White House. A proposal outlined in Trump’s 2026 budget to create an entirely separate wildfire agency is still being developed, he said. The U.S House and the U.S. Senate are currently forwarding differing visions for that reorganization.

“Right now I don’t know what Congress is going to do,” he said.

During his Tuesday afternoon address, Schultz indicated that the DOGE-led effort to reduce the Forest Service’s ranks has not led to as many cuts as the Trump administration initially proposed. In February, the agency fired more than 3,000 agency personnel who were considered probationary, meaning they hadn’t been in their current position for more than a year or two. 

“We have not been firing people outside that process,” he said, adding that most of those employees returned “eventually.” 

Schultz told MTFP that some employees had opted into the early retirement offer, but there is no active reduction-in-force effort underway. Under that program, sometimes called RIF, federal agencies can reduce their payrolls in a manner considered more durable by being more thoughtfully considered.

“I can’t say for certain there won’t be any [reductions in force], but that’s not the plan,” Schutlz said. 

Trump anounced Schultz’s appointment to lead the Forest Service in February. He is the first chief who hasn’t previously worked for the agency, which he describes as a strength. He worked for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation between 1997 and 2021 before pursuing public- and private-sector forestry roles in Idaho.