• About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
No Result
View All Result
Converseer
  • Home
  • News
    • General News
    • Education
    • Business
    • Security
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Tourism
  • Politics
  • Metro
  • Jobs
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Tech
  • More
    • Science & Nature
    • Agriculture
    • Opinion
    • Feature
    • Fact Check
    • History
    • Profile & Biography
    • Special Reports
  • Home
  • News
    • General News
    • Education
    • Business
    • Security
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Tourism
  • Politics
  • Metro
  • Jobs
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Tech
  • More
    • Science & Nature
    • Agriculture
    • Opinion
    • Feature
    • Fact Check
    • History
    • Profile & Biography
    • Special Reports
No Result
View All Result
Converseer
No Result
View All Result

The Forest Service Loses Billions Subsidizing Logging

by Editorial Team
1 March 2025
in News
February 28, 2025

Mike Garrity

lolologgin The Forest Service Loses Billions Subsidizing Logging

Clearcut on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. Photo by Vicki Anfinson

If Trump and Musk really want to cut the Forest Service’s budget they need to go where the money is actually being wasted. That would be the Forest Service’s enormously subsidized logging projects that cost billions of federal tax dollars while inflicting significant damage on the environment, wildlife, and fisheries. All to enable the private timber industry to profit off the public resource of our national forests.

The Forest Service’s own economic analysis shows the actual costs of recent timber sales in Region One, which includes Montana and northern Idaho.

+ Taxpayers will lose $3,184,000 on the South Plateau clearcutting project next to Yellowstone National Park in the Custer-Gallatin National Forest, which we are suing to stop.

+ Taxpayers will lose a stunning $4.2 million on the Gold Butterfly logging project in the Bitterroot National Forest, which we are also in court trying to stop.

+ The Lost Creek-Boulder Creek clear-cutting project on Idaho’s Payette National Forest would have lost nearly $22 million — but we stopped it in court.

Camp The Forest Service Loses Billions Subsidizing Logging

Photo by US Forest Service.

A 2019 report by the Center for a Sustainable Economy found “taxpayer losses of nearly $2 billion a year associated with the federal logging program carried out on National Forest and Bureau of Land Management lands.”

But that was before Congress gave the Forest Service tens of billions from the Infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act for more logging. That’s on top of their $6 billion annual budget. When the Forest Service recently told me that they are out of money, I asked what happened to those billions. They said they spent it all.  That is what they do so they get more money next time.

toilets The Forest Service Loses Billions Subsidizing Logging

Photo by US Forest Service.

Commercial logging increases wildfire intensity

The Forest Service claims that logging reduces wildfire risk, but more than more than 200 independent scientists found that logged areas actually aggravate wildfire growth and intensity. How? Because logging allows more sunlight and wind to dry out the forest and makes them more flammable.

It’s a proven fact that the best way to fireproof homes in forested areas is by clearing out nearby brush and using non-flammable building materials — not by clear-cutting forests miles from any homes.

Road The Forest Service Loses Billions Subsidizing Logging

Logging Road, Helena- Lewis and Clark National Forest. Photo by Helena Hunters and Anglers.

Conclusion

If Musk really wanted to save taxpayers’ money, he should target the billions of dollars needlessly spent clear-cutting our dwindling old-growth forests for timber industry profits and they’d have plenty left to keep employees to provide real public services such as clean campgrounds, outhouses, and well-maintained trails.

Please consdier donating to CounterPunch for running columns like this.

Mike Garrity is the executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.

Source: Counter Punch

Tags: General News

Related News

News

Six dead in Abuja trailer accident

4 months ago
Where Does the Funding Go? Examining USAID Expenditures in Haiti
News

What We Overlook When Discussing USAID

5 months ago
Ogun Police Raid Kidnappers' Den on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Neutralize Five Suspects and Rescue Three Victims
Lifestyle

Ogun Police Raid Kidnappers’ Den on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Neutralize Five Suspects and Rescue Three Victims

5 months ago
US Federal Employees Directed to Remove Pronouns from Email Signatures
News

US Federal Employees Directed to Remove Pronouns from Email Signatures

5 months ago
NGX: Equities Market Experiences Bullish Surge as Investors Benefit from N483bn Gain
News

Top Stocks to Watch This Week: SCOA, Chellaram, UPDC, Guinness, and More

5 months ago
News

US House passes first Barrett bill to simplify VA claims notices

3 months ago

Latest News

Poland defends new border checks as German officials warn of fallout

JAMB releases 2025 mop-up UTME results, records only 12% turnout

Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Owolabi Olakulehin, dies at 90

Cross River Chief of Staff reaffirms loyalty to Governor Otu, donates to church

Calls intensify for NOUN study centre in Ogoja

Mbappé’s bicycle kick seals Real Madrid’s 3-2 win over Dortmund

About Us

Converseer is an online newspaper that delivers impartial, comprehensive news coverage on politics, business, health, tech, metro, and education, among other topics.

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • WhatsApp
  • X (Twitter)
  • YouTube
  • Telegram

Coverage

  • Africa
  • Americas
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Middle East

Special Pages

  • Special Reports
  • Fact Check
  • Feature
  • Opinion
  • History
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use

© 2025 Converseer - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • General News
    • Education
    • Business
    • Security
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Tourism
  • Politics
  • Metro
  • Jobs
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Tech
  • More
    • Science & Nature
    • Agriculture
    • Opinion
    • Feature
    • Fact Check
    • History
    • Profile & Biography
    • Special Reports

© 2025 Converseer - All Rights Reserved.