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Trump Administration Declares Timber Emergency After Decades of Employment Decline in the Industry
Employment in the natural resource extraction industry, like logging and mining, used to be the primary driver of economic activity in many small northwestern towns like Libby. But those jobs have dwindled in recent decades, leading to the socio-economic challenges associated with unemployment, including low wages and high poverty. In 2023, Libby’s poverty rate was 26%, more than twice as high as the national rate of 11%.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration issued an executive order to increase timber production by at least 25%, citing wildfire risk reduction and economic development as the primary drivers behind the order. Whether Trump’s forest management policies will improve rural economies in communities formerly dependent on logging is a point of contention, however.
My fellow Daily Yonder reporter, Ilana Newman, and I spent last week interviewing sources for a series of articles about mining, natural resources, and human health in the rural northwest. On our first day out in the field, we met logger Bruce Vincent, owner of Vincent Logging, at his office in the small town of Libby, Montana. Vincent Logging is a small timber operation that Bruce’s parents started in 1968.
