A Washington State University professor is one of a dozen researchers who signed an open letter noting that a proposed expansion of logging on federal lands may have some benefits — but that the firing of forestry experts and cuts in research could undermine that potential. The result, they say in the letter published Thursday at the website of the journal Science, could harm wildlife, increase wildfire risk and eliminate irreplaceable carbon stores in national forests. Austin Himes, an assistant professor in WSU’s School of the Environment, said that the idea of increasing domestic timber production and relying less on imports has promise. But focusing solely on speeding up the pace of logging risks other priorities that “evidence-based” forestry practices seek to balance. …the researchers said increased logging, if focused only on efficiently increasing timber production, could reduce the ability of forests to withstand growing threats from pests and wildfires.