Our Forestland – EUDR & Southern Pine Beetle
Our Forestland is a valuable part of the nation’s economy. In Alabama, we have a large portion of property that is covered by National Forests. This provides recreation to individuals and it helps steer the economic engine of the State through managed timber harvest producing lumber, paper products, fencing materials and much more. We need to make sure that foreign countries do not buy up our National Forests and the natural resources and minerals that go with them. In Alabama we have 668,000 acres covering 17 counties of National Forests.
The United States joined with the European Union as a part of the EUDR, the European Union Deforestation Regulation. This regulation was put into place to keep third world countries from mass harvesting timber land. In August 2025, President Trump through tariff negotiations had the United States listed as a “negligible source” and removed. However, all of the timber mills are still abiding by this new regulation since they ship products to the European Union and other nations. We must on day one have a new law introduced removing the United States from this regulation.
For further understanding of the new regulation….if a farm sells a piece of land for industry, homes, or other sources and then chooses to go and cut the timber off of another less valuable piece of property, they can not sell the timber from the less valuable piece of property if they desire to put that piece back into agricultural service, including crop land or pastureland. The new property can be put back into trees, houses, industrial land or more. This is a corrupt piece of legislation and the EU has no business telling American’s what we can do with our land!
All across the Southeast we also have a silent destroyer that is slowly devastating our pine timberland. It is the Southern Pipe Beetle. In 2024 there was a major outbreak in Alabama which resulted in a reported 12,000 infestation spots covering 25,000 acres. I believe this number has grown dramatically since the report as the beetle continue to spread rapidly. Although this may not seem like a big issue to some, this is devastating to the timber landowners and to the National Forests. Some landowners may just be a small family land all the way up to huge corporations. This can not be stopped by the Alabama Forestry Commission or other States Forestry Organizations. As your Senator, I will work with research and development companies to produce an insecticide to spray and terminate the pine beetle. I will also work with the Department of Agriculture to contract spray forests of Alabama to rid this killer just as the boll weevil had to be eradicated in Alabama between 1987 and 1995. This is a serious issue that we must get under control before it destroys the pine timber in Alabama and across the Southeast.
