"President Donald Trump’s plans to use the “God Squad” and emergency provisions of the Endangered Species Act to promote widespread logging on public lands are likely illegal and little more than rhetoric without the force of law, legal experts say.

Trump signed an executive order on March 1 requiring the US Forest Service and the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management to expedite timber harvesting on federal lands.

It directs agencies to use ESA emergency regulations and the Endangered Species Committee, also known as the “God Squad,” to find ways to speed up approval of timber harvests and report to Trump about endangered species that stand in the way of logging.

The order also requires the agencies to create categorical exclusions for timber sales under the National Environmental Policy Act. A separate order, signed after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on imports of Canadian lumber, declares that timber and lumber imports pose a national security risk."

Bobby Magill reports for Bloomberg Environment March 3, 2025. [2]