Analysis of Implications of Executive Order 14072 on the Forestry Sector and Associated Equipment Spending

In mid-December 2023, the USDA announced a new proposal – building on the Biden administration’s Executive Order 14072 – that amends “all 128 forest land management plans to conserve and steward old-growth forest conditions on national forests and grasslands nationwide”. Executive Order 14072 instructed the USDA to coordinate conservation and wildfire risk reduction activities, define mature and old-growth forests on federal lands, complete an inventory and make it publicly available, pursue reforestation, and identify threats to mature and old-growth forests. The new proposal from the agency aims to “conserve groves of old-growth trees on national forests across the U.S. and limit logging as climate change amplifies the threats they face from wildfires, insects and disease.”

Since 2000, about 350 square miles of old growth forests were logged on federal land and more than 5,100 square miles of old and mature growth forests in the US were burned. Logging in old growth forests is a hotly contested issue in the US, pitting industry groups against environmental organizations. In recent years, infestations, wildfires, disease, and climate change have damaged old growth forests (a crucial wildlife habitat) in the US, bringing the issue to the forefront. Intensifying pressure from environmental groups pushed the government to act.

The Biden Administration has argued that the new proposal adopts an ecologically-driven approach to old growth forests. Industry groups have actively opposed the government’s initiatives as well as the new proposal, stating that it threatens the health of the forestry sector and harms forestry operations around the country. At the same time, environmental organizations are also not fully satisfied with the proposal. For example, the new proposal does not restrict logging in mature forests, which environmental organization see as another priority.

The implementation of this proposal in coming years will have a major impact on the US forestry sector and associated equipment spending. Next year’s presidential election will determine if and how the proposal is implemented.

To place the possible impacts in context, the new Global Forestry Equipment study states the following: 

The amount of forested land in a nation is a strong indicator of the potential maximum size of that country’s forestry equipment market. In 2022, for example, the five nations with the largest amounts of forested land – Russia, Brazil, Canada, the US, and China – were among the top seven forestry equipment markets globally.

For more information on the global forestry sector and the global forestry equipment market, see Freedonia Group’s Global Forestry Equipment study.