Swaths of Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania could be on the chopping block as the federal government moves to increase logging in national forests across the country. In a memo released last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins put almost 60% of national forest lands under an emergency designation, citing declining forest health and risk of wildfires. The designated forest lands will be easier to harvest for more timber as some federally mandated regulations and processes, such as one that allows challenges to logging proposals, are not required under the emergency designation. The U.S. Forest Service declined to comment on how much of Allegheny National Forest falls under the designation. …That memo also calls for the use of “innovative and efficient approaches” to meet “the minimum requirements” of environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act and Endangered Species Act.