Groundbreaking lawsuit takes aim at U.S. Forest Service’s ‘timber targets’

This week, SELC filed a new, first-of-its-kind lawsuit that alleges the Forest Service’s ‘timber target’ decisions put the climate at risk, undermine the Biden administration’s important climate goals, and violate federal law. 

The agency’s single-minded pursuit of these targets threatens almost every value that people cherish about our national forests, puts the climate at risk, and violates federal law.

Patrick Hunter, Managing Attorney

The case, which was filed on behalf of the Chattooga Conservancy, MountainTrue, and an individual in Missouri, centers around the Forest Service’s failure to properly study the massive environmental and climate impacts of its timber targets and the logging projects it designs to fulfill them. 

A rising target 

Each year, the Forest Service and Department of Agriculture set timber targets, which the Forest Service is required to meet through logging on public lands across the country. In recent years, the national target has been set as high as 4 billion board feet – or enough lumber to circle the globe more than 30 times. The Forest Service itself has said that the amount of timber sold from our national forests in recent years has been “higher than any period in the previous few decades.”  

Even more concerning, the Forest Service recently announced plans to increase the already high targets in the coming years, particularly in the South and East. 

Cutting at the expense of the climate

Forests on public lands provide a key climate solution by capturing and storing billions of tons of carbon. The forests that make up the National Forest System hold about 50 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. As U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark) puts it, “trees are still the most large-scale, cost-effective and environmentally friendly carbon sequestration devices we have.”  

But rising timber targets push the Forest Service to make ill-informed decisions, like clearcutting trees and logging mature and old-growth forests. Because older forests often contain larger trees, harvesting them means the agency can reach its volume-based timber targets faster. But these older forests are also our most carbon-dense forests and cutting them releases most of their stored carbon back into the atmosphere, worsening the climate crisis.  

Estimates based on agency data suggest that the Forest Service’s timber projects cumulatively contribute tens of millions of tons of carbon to the atmosphere. That’s equivalent to the carbon-dioxide emissions from burning tens of billions of pounds of coal. 

Logging our remarkable mature and old-growth forests in the name of meeting mandated timber targets hurts the climate and undermines the Biden administration’s important efforts to protect old growth and fight climate change.  

“Our national forests offer a simple, straightforward, and cost-effective climate solution,” Patrick Hunter, Managing Attorney for SELC’s Asheville Office, said. “But these incredible areas are routinely logged to achieve crude, destructive timber targets. The agency’s single-minded pursuit of these targets threatens almost every value that people cherish about our national forests, puts the climate at risk, and violates federal law.” 

The Forest Service’s ‘number one priority’

Timber targets are not just goals or benchmarks—they are mandatory requirements that drive agency decision-making. Internal Forest Service documents obtained by SELC through the Freedom of Information Act show just how much pressure timber targets put on Forest Service staff.  

In internal emails, staff from Forest Service Region 8 – which includes the Southern Appalachian Mountains and other parts of the South – explained that timber volume is “is always at the forefront of the decision makers thought process” and achieving timber targets is the region’s “#1 priority.” Other regions have said the same. 

Prioritizing timber targets means that other Forest Service priorities widely valued by the public suffer. Documents show that the binding targets interfere with the agency’s ability to conduct “basic maintenance,” “keep trails opened and maintained,” and “respond to needs resulting from catastrophic events (e.g. fire) in a timely manner.” The requirement to meet targets has also forced the Forest Service to choose damaging timber harvests that produce high volumes over harvests that address critical ecological restoration needs. 

The prioritization of timber targets has a clear and direct impact on forests, wildlife habitats, and the scenic values that support local economies across the South.   

For example, agency staff on Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest have admitted internally that a project paid for with federal funds allocated for wildlife habitat improvements actually had “no benefit to wildlife” but was instead implemented to “meet timber targets.”  

In South Carolina’s Sumter National Forest, the agency asked to be exempted from rules that prevent large, unsightly clearcutting projects in order to pursue timber-harvest projects such as the 2,000-acre White Pine Management Project. Internal documents show the exemption was granted, in part, because the Sumter’s “timber targets hinge on it.” 

Failure to follow the law

Despite these significant and long-lasting effects on our climate and forests, the Forest Service and the Department of Agriculture have never assessed or disclosed the impact timber targets have on climate change or the cumulative effects of the numerous logging projects authorized each year to satisfy those targets.  

This violates the National Environmental Policy Act.  

If the agencies had conducted studies of the climate impacts of their timber targets, they may have chosen more climate-friendly alternatives, like lower targets, that are more in line with the pressing needs of our forests, the climate crisis, and President Biden’s climate agenda.  

That’s why we are taking the agency to court.