Cow Creek Umpqua Op-Ed Calls Out EU Overreach in Wall Street Journal
On December 26, Cow Creek Umpqua Tribal Chairman Carla Keene’s name appeared atop an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, one of the nation’s most influential newspapers, calling out the European Union’s Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR) law in development. Chairman Keene called it a new form of colonialism that threatens Tribal sovereignty while claiming to protect Indigenous people.
The piece, titled “The EU Tells Native Americans How to Manage Our Forests,” has brought national attention in the U.S. to an E.U. issue, specifying how the law directly impacts not only the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians but other Tribal nations with sustainable and responsible timber operations.
What is the EUDR?
The EU’s Deforestation-free Regulation went into effect in 2023, though enforcement has been delayed. The law requires anyone selling certain wood products in the EU to prove their goods don’t come from land with “forest degradation.”
As Chairman Keene explained in her op-ed, the regulation creates burdens for Tribal nations:
Sovereignty vs. Market Access
The law requires harvest-site maps with geolocation data for every piece of timber. This level of information about Tribal land is sensitive culturally, ecologically, and economically. Two sovereign nations working together in a government-to-government relationship should respect that boundary.
Burden on Small Operators
The Cow Creek Umpqua sustainable timber operation focuses primarily on wildfire mitigation and prevention work, turning low-value and post-fire material into high-grade wood chips. Implementing the complex tracking workflows required by EUDR places an unreasonable burden on small operations like ours that lack the resources of major corporations with millions of acres.
Beyond EU Borders
Even companies that aren’t in the EU are beginning to demand the same geolocation data to prepare for EUDR compliance. This means the regulation is becoming the standard even for those who don’t intend to do business with Europe, effectively cutting off producers like the Cow Creek Umpqua from international markets.
Chairman Keene’s op-ed emphasizes that Tribal nations are among the world’s most responsible forest managers. For generations, they lived in balance on their land, planting, thinning, burning, and harvesting according to knowledge passed down through generations from ancestors. Tribal forests are the trade partners Europeans should want.
“If the EU truly wants to advance global forest stewardship,” Chairman Keene concluded, “it should start by respecting our Indigenous sovereignty and knowledge about forest management.”
Since the publication appeared in the Wall Street Journal, many powerful voices in the timber industry have reached out to Chairman Keene to congratulate her and the Cow Creek Umpqua Tribe for their advocacy.
If you have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, you can read the full opinion piece in the December 26, 2025, edition, titled “The EU Tells Native Americans How to Manage Our Forests.”
