@hiking_adventures: During two days of his new term, President Donald Trump signed more than 200 executive orders. These orders included declaring a “national energy emergency” and an executive order titled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” attempting to roll back protections on over 9 million acres of Tongass National Forest, potentially opening them up for logging. The Trump administration has stated it seeks to rescind the Roadless Rule, which prohibits road construction and timber harvest on over 58 million acres of national forests across the country. During his first term, the Trump administration pushed through a rollback targeting the Eastside Screens which are restrictions put in place in the mid-1990s to protect the Pacific Northwest’s old-growth forests after decades of logging had put them at risk. They prohibit loggers from targeting any trees east of the cascades larger than 21 inches in diameter. The screens protect trees in six national forests in eastern Oregon and Washington, comprising more than seven million acres of public land. While these trees only make up around 3% of trees in the region, they provide vital habitat for wildlife, and recent research indicates that they store 42% of the forests’ carbon. Essentially their goal was specifically to open up logging to old growth trees. Today, February 26, 2025 Trump held a press conference stating a new Executive Order would be coming. He specifically stated, “we’re freeing up our forests, we’re going to be able to take down trees now.” Make no mistake - old growth trees and our forests are on the chopping block. Our forests are so much more than just trees for logging.