Utah has had more than 7 million acres of national forest for over a century but not the say it wanted in managing them. That changed Thursday morning when the state finalized a new agreement with the U.S. Forest Service, intended in part to expand logging.

The U.S. Forest Service is preparing to ramp up timber production in Utah after Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz and Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a new long‑term stewardship agreement last week. The deal brings the two governments into closer alignment to expand sustainable timber production, accelerate forest‑health treatments, and reduce wildfire risk across one of the country’s most fire‑prone regions.

As it stands, Utah is home to more than 18 million acres of forest (7.28 million hectares) and 3.6 million acres of timberland (1.46 million hectares) capable of supporting commercial production — a resource the Forest Service says underpins the state’s rural economy.

“I applaud Gov. Cox for reaffirming the importance of our partnership and recommitting to ensuring healthy forests on public and private lands,” Schultz said. “More importantly, our shared vision includes expansion of sustainable timber production, advancing wood utilization opportunities, accelerating landscape‑scale restoration, and increasing the pace and scale of forest treatments to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires.”

Source: newsfromthestates.com