Trump hails timber-sales high, but 2019 figure leaves record claim unsettled

President Donald Trump used a National Forest Products Week message on 19 October to say the US Forest Service had sold more than three billion board feet of timber “this year”, calling it the highest volume in almost three decades. The statement did not specify whether “this year” meant the calendar year or the federal financial year. [1]

For the financial year that ended on 30 September, the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group, reported sales of 3.3 billion board feet. Forest Service chief Tom Schultz gave the same rounded figure in a statement reported by The New York Times. It is higher than the 2.95 billion board feet recorded for the previous financial year in a US Government Accountability Office report. [5] [6] [4]

The longer historical comparison is less clear. In a 2020 proclamation, Trump’s administration also reported 3.3 billion board feet for the 2019 financial year, calling it the highest level since 1997. Because both the 2019 and 2026 figures are rounded, they do not show which year was higher. The GAO also found that, from 2023, the Forest Service began counting estimated volumes of firewood provided free under personal-use permits; that category accounted for about 6% of reported sales volume in 2023. A like-for-like, unrounded comparison would be needed to settle the record claim. [7] [4]

Trump linked the sales figure to two orders he signed in March 2025. One directed agencies to develop guidance to increase timber production and a plan for future sales targets. The other ordered an investigation into the national-security effects of timber and lumber imports. Those instructions do not, by themselves, establish how much of the later sales increase the orders caused. [1] [2]