[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 43 (Thursday, March 6, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 11365-11367]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-03695]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 43 / Thursday, March 6, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 11365]]
Executive Order 14225 of March 1, 2025
Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. The production of timber, lumber,
paper, bioenergy, and other wood products (timber
production) is critical to our Nation's well-being.
Timber production is essential for crucial human
activities like construction and energy production.
Furthermore, as recent disasters demonstrate, forest
management and wildfire risk reduction projects can
save American lives and communities.
The United States has an abundance of timber resources
that are more than adequate to meet our domestic timber
production needs, but heavy-handed Federal policies
have prevented full utilization of these resources and
made us reliant on foreign producers. Our inability to
fully exploit our domestic timber supply has impeded
the creation of jobs and prosperity, contributed to
wildfire disasters, degraded fish and wildlife
habitats, increased the cost of construction and
energy, and threatened our economic security. These
onerous Federal policies have forced our Nation to rely
upon imported lumber, thus exporting jobs and
prosperity and compromising our self-reliance. It is
vital that we reverse these policies and increase
domestic timber production to protect our national and
economic security.
Sec. 2. Directives to the Secretary of the Interior and
the Secretary of Agriculture. (a) Within 30 days of the
date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior and
the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Director of
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Chief of
the United States Forest Service (USFS), respectively,
shall each issue new or updated guidance regarding
tools to facilitate increased timber production and
sound forest management, reduce time to deliver timber,
and decrease timber supply uncertainty, such as the
Good Neighbor Authority described in 16 U.S.C. 2113a,
stewardship contracting pursuant to 16 U.S.C. 6591c,
and agreements or contracts with Indian tribes under
the Tribal Forest Protection Act as contemplated by 25
U.S.C. 3115a. The Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture shall also each submit to the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget any
legislative proposals that would expand authorities to
improve timber production and sound forest management.
(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the
Secretary of Commerce, through the Assistant
Administrator for Fisheries, shall complete a strategy
on USFS and BLM forest management projects under
section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (16
U.S.C. 1536) to improve the speed of approving forestry
projects. The Secretary of the Interior, through the
Director of the FWS, shall also examine any applicable
existing authorities that would permit executive
departments and agencies (agencies) to delegate
consultation requirements under section 7 of the ESA to
other agencies and, if necessary, provide a legislative
proposal to ensure consultation is streamlined.
(c) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Agriculture shall together submit to the President,
through the Assistant to the President for Economic
Policy, a plan that sets a target for the annual amount
of timber per year to be offered for
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sale over the next 4 years from Federal lands managed
by the BLM and the USFS, measured in millions of board
feet.
(d) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Interior, through the Directors of the
FWS and the BLM, and the Secretary of Agriculture,
through the Chief of the USFS, shall complete the
Whitebark Pine Rangewide Programmatic Consultation
under section 7 of the ESA.
(e) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Agriculture shall consider and, if appropriate and
consistent with applicable law, adopt categorical
exclusions administratively established by other
agencies to comply with the National Environmental
Policy Act and reduce unnecessarily lengthy processes
and associated costs related to administrative
approvals for timber production, forest management, and
wildfire risk reduction treatments.
(f) Within 280 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Interior shall consider and, if
appropriate and consistent with applicable law,
establish a new categorical exclusion for timber
thinning and re-establish a categorical exclusion for
timber salvage activities.
Sec. 3. Streamlined Permitting. All relevant agencies
shall eliminate, to the maximum extent permissible by
law, all undue delays within their respective
permitting processes related to timber production.
Additionally, all relevant agencies shall take all
necessary and appropriate steps consistent with
applicable law to suspend, revise, or rescind all
existing regulations, orders, guidance documents,
policies, settlements, consent orders, and other agency
actions that impose an undue burden on timber
production.
Sec. 4. Endangered Species Committee. (a) Agencies are
directed to use, to the maximum extent permissible
under applicable law, the ESA regulations on
consultations in emergencies to facilitate the Nation's
timber production. The Secretary of the Interior, as
Chairman of the Endangered Species Committee, shall
ensure a prompt and efficient review of all submissions
to such committee, to include identification of any
legal deficiencies, in order to ensure the timely
consideration of exemption applications and, where
possible, to resolve such applications before the
deadlines set by the ESA.
(b) Federal members of the Endangered Species
Committee, or their designees, shall coordinate to
develop and submit a report to the President, through
the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy,
that identifies obstacles to domestic timber production
infrastructure specifically deriving from
implementation of the ESA and recommends procedural,
regulatory, and interagency improvements.
(c) The Secretary of the Interior shall ensure that
the Director of the FWS, or the Director's authorized
representative, is available to consult promptly with
agencies and to take other appropriate action
concerning the applicability of the ESA's emergency
regulations. The Secretary of Commerce shall ensure
that the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, or the
Assistant Administrator's authorized representative, is
available for such consultation and to take such other
action as may assist in applying the ESA's emergency
regulations.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
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(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 1, 2025.
[FR Doc. 2025-03695
Filed 3-5-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P