Trump Administration Accelerates Toxic Herbicide Use in US Forests, Sparking Health and Ecological Concerns

The Trump administration has escalated its assault on America’s forests, prioritizing private profit and cost-cutting measures over environmental and public health. Since Donald Trump’s second term began in 2023, his administration has taken aggressive steps to dismantle protections for the nation’s woodlands, including firing approximately 10% of US Forest Service staff, accelerating logging on federal lands, and opening protected wildlife areas to oil and gas exploitation.

One of the most alarming developments is the increased use of Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide manufactured by Bayer. Roundup has been linked to multiple cancers in humans, particularly non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and poses severe risks to forest ecosystems. Despite these dangers, the administration has significantly expanded its application across clear-cut and fire-impacted forests nationwide.

The government’s justification for using glyphosate is a forest management technique called conifer release. This process involves removing grasses, shrubs, and forbs that could hinder the growth of young conifer trees. While manual removal is possible, the administration has opted for chemical spraying to reduce labor costs. According to Mother Jones, manual conifer release can cost up to three times more than using herbicides.

In February 2024, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to boost glyphosate production and extend legal immunity to herbicide manufacturers, further shielding companies like Bayer from liability related to the health impacts of Roundup.

The administration’s push for glyphosate use is also tied to its broader agenda of resource extraction. In Idaho, the government has approved Bayer’s proposal to construct a new phosphate mine on 1,800 acres of public land—a critical step, as phosphate is a key precursor for glyphosate production. Trump’s solicitor general, Dean John Sauer, has intervened in a Supreme Court case to help protect Bayer from lawsuits over Roundup’s health effects. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has effectively shut down federally funded research at UC Berkeley labs studying glyphosate’s impact on human health.

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2023, California authorities sprayed 266,000 pounds of pure glyphosate across state forests—five times the amount used 20 years prior. Under Trump’s leadership, these figures are expected to rise sharply as the administration continues to prioritize short-term economic gains over long-term environmental sustainability.

Critics argue that the administration’s policies treat federal lands as little more than sprawling tree farms, with little regard for the consequences. The aggressive logging quotas and expanded herbicide use underscore a broader pattern of environmental deregulation, raising urgent questions about the future of America’s forests and the health of its ecosystems.